SUPERINTENDENT’S MONTHLY REPORT

Doyle School

Pre K Self-Contained- Ms. Albonico

This month, we started our second Tools of the Mind theme: Grocery store. Each center transformed into a different part of the store. The table toys center was the flower shop, the dramatic play center was the checkout, the science center was the deli, the art center was the bakery, and the blocks center was produce. They have great imagination when they are pretending to go shopping in the grocery store. They also all have so much fun using make-believe play to pretend that they are different people working in the grocery store.

All the Pre-K classes went to Secor Farm for a class trip. First, we went on a hayride traveling through the farm to the pumpkin patch. Once we arrived at the pumpkin patch, the students each picked a pumpkin to bring back with them. We had such an awesome time! The students were very excited for Halloween! We had a class party and the students also participated in the Halloween parade. This year, the teachers were all nurses. We loved seeing all the children’s costumes. They had so much fun.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !1 Pre K Self-Contained- Ms. Varettoni

Pre-K had a very productive October! During the Week of Respect, we read The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Strelitz Haber. In the story, a monster loses the M in his name which stands for his “mean.” Without his mean, the monster learns to embrace his differences and uses kindness to befriend others instead of bullying. After reading the story with Miss Albonico’s class, we discussed ways that we could be “kindness monsters” in our own lives. Student responses were recorded by teachers and students made symmetry paintings to complement their work. This reinforced the idea that although every monster looked different, they are all special and beautiful in his or her own unique way. Every student was able to come up with their own, appropriate example on how to be a kindness monster.

During the second week of October, we had a field trip to Secor Farms in Mahwah with Miss Albonico and Mrs. Hahn’s classes. Students had a wonderful time picking their own pumpkins, meeting farm animals, taking in the sights on a hayride, taking pictures, and playing in a straw maze. Students were able to make connections to the fall concepts we have been discussing such as the leaves changing colors, apples, pumpkins, and the cooler weather. Secor Farms made quite the impression on students, we are still talking about the fun we had!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !2

In October, we began our weekly letter study which we will continue throughout the school year. The letters we learned about this month were O, C, A, and D. To reinforce letter recognition and sounds, students have been participating in multisensory instructional activities such as finding “mystery letters” in watercolor, rainbow tracing, making letters out of play- doh, stamps, cut/paste activities, remembering songs/dances about each letter, and more. Everyone is doing a fantastic job! Now when we are walking through the hallways of school, we point out the letters we recognize on bulletin boards, signs, etc. We started creating an alphabet and sensory book for each letter that will go home at the end of the year.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !3

We also began a new theme towards the end of the month in our Tools of the Mind Curriculum. As we transitioned from the Family theme, we have begun making props for the Grocery theme. To support out new play theme, we talked about the different sections of a grocery store such as the deli, produce aisle, flower shop, and check out area. Students have had tremendous fun making the props and incorporating them into their play!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !4

And last, but certainly not least, we recently welcomed a new student to Pre-K/V and the other classmates have served as wonderful role models for our new student. Our new student has been a wonderful addition to our class and we hope to grow more throughout the school year!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !5 Pre K Age 4 Full Day Inclusion- Mrs. Hahn/Ms. Paskas

We are in full swing here in Pre-k 4. There has been so many fun learning activities going on in our classroom this month. We launched our new Family theme. The children helped transform our classroom into different rooms we have in our houses. We have a bathroom, living room, kitchen, laundry room and garage. They have taken on the roles of the various family members and have been completing household tasks.

This month we also went on our first field trip to Secor Farms in Mahwah. The students got to see some live animals in the farm, play in a corn box, navigate through a hay maze. Then we took a fun hayride to pick our very own pumpkins. We ended out trip with some freshly picked apples. We really enjoyed our first trip.

We also got to share our favorite Halloween stories with our first grade book buddies. Our friends brought books and then we made bookmarks together. We love reading with our friends.

Pre K Age 4 Full Day- Mrs. Rightmyer

We had a great time in Pre-K this October! We started out the month by continuing our family theme. Children had a great time pretending to be family members making dinner, washing clothes, reading stories, brushing their teeth and even painting the garage in our pretend centers!

Towards the end of the month, we started our next Tools of the Mind Theme: Grocery Store. We have a pretend check-out counter, a flower shop, a deli, a bakery, and even a farmer’s market. The children are learning so many new grocery terms like aisle, ingredients, and recipe!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !6 This month we had our first field trip to Secor Farms in Mahwah. The children had a great time riding a hayride to a pumpkin patch, picking their own pumpkin, and seeing some farm animals! It was the perfect day and the children are sure to remember this trip for years to come!

We had a few mystery readers come read to our class this month. Some of the readers were siblings and some were our parents! The children loved listening to stories and eating some special treats from our readers! We were so excited to celebrate Halloween and wear our Halloween costumes to school. The children had a Halloween party and participated in a school wide Halloween parade. It was such a fun month!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !7

Pre K Age 3 Half/Full Day- Mrs. Schwartz

October has been a “spook-tackular” month in Pre-K 3! We launched our new Tools of the Mind theme… Grocery Store. Our Dramatic Play center is now the Checkout Area where the shelves are stocked and there is a cash register. The Table Top Center is now the Farmer’s Market stocked with lots of produce and bushels of fun. The Blocks Center is BJ’s where the children are enjoying buying in bulk. The Science Center is the deli, where students can take orders and make sandwiches. The Art Center is the Bakery. The students love baking delicious treats such as cupcakes and cookies in the oven. The literacy center has transformed into a Flower Shop where the children can make beautiful floral arrangements and bouquets. The class loves assuming the many different roles which help to make a grocery store run smoothly.

This month we have spent a lot of time learning about bullying and how to be good friends to our classmates. We read many stories together which focused on the theme of friendship. One of our favorite stories was, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. Based on this story, each student created their own sunflower project using their handprints. We brainstormed what makes each of us unique and each child shared a special quality about themselves which is written on a leaf of their sunflower.

The Pre-K classes also took a field trip to Secor Farm in Mahwah, NJ this month. They loved taking the school bus with their friends and teachers. It was so much fun seeing the animals, taking a hayride and picking their own pumpkins to take home. The students also enjoyed playing in the corn box and finding their way through the hay maze.

Another highlight in October was learning about shapes and creating shape monsters. Each student got to pick a shape and color and create a monster using lots of eyes and teeth. Our shape monsters are proudly on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !8 The end of the month was just as amazing as the beginning as students got into costume and marched in our Doyle School Halloween Parade. It was so exciting to participate in this school wide event! Our Pre-K class also enjoyed our class party and special activities like spider races, tossing rings onto a witch’s hat and a Halloween themed bean bag toss. We can’t wait to see what the month of November has in store for us!

Kindergarten- Ms. Focarino

We have had so many adventures this month in Kindergarten! We have followed the characters in the Magic Tree House Series, Jack and Annie, all over the place. Jack and Annie have taken us to walk with the dinosaurs in prehistoric times. We are now learning about medieval times and knights with Jack and Annie in The Magic Tree House: The Knight at Dawn. We are enjoying dramatizing the adventures in our centers every day! We are continuing to familiarize ourselves with letter sounds. We are now even starting to read and write different words. We just started learning different word families. We are excited to watch Q and U join together during out “QU Wedding.”

During our math time, we work hard on recognizing quantities 1-10. We have learned very quickly how to write numbers 5-8 correctly. We have even made some songs and rhymes to help us remember! During our center time, we have learned about patterns and how to recognize what is coming next in a pattern.

Kindergarten- Ms. Goodlin

We have been focusing on many topics in class. For morning work we have been working on our alphabet and focusing on a letter each week. We are currently on the letter M.

In reading and writing class, we have been reading, writing and acting out Magic Tree House stories.

Our math topics have been identifying, counting and writing numerals 6-10 and comparing larger and smaller numbers.

In science, we have focused on topics of seasons and weather.

In health class, we talked about stranger danger and had a few assemblies where the Police and Fire Departments came and talked about being safe and fire prevention.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !9 In social studies, we focused on topics of bullying, conflict resolution and treating people with respect. We read stories, made crafts, had homework journal entries and used our social studies workbook (Our World) to discuss these activities.

Kindergarten- Mrs. Pagliocca

October started off with a wonderful adventure to Medieval Times with Jack and Annie. The children loved acting out the various roles. We made terrific props to help for the retelling of the story and showing off in our Dramatic Play Center.

We had a Mystery Guest come in. What a surprise it was, she is not only a parent but a teacher at the high school. It was Mrs. Manolakakis, Anna’s mommy. The children loved having her come in to sing and read to us. What fun we all had, especially Anna. Just look at the picture of this mother and daughter.

Halloween is always an exciting time in kindergarten. What a terrific way to end the month of October with a parade and a party. In November, we get to learn about living during Ancient Egypt times was with Jack and Annie. It will be another fun month of learning!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !10

Kindergarten(Inclusion)- Ms. Sanzari/Mrs. Nass October was an exciting month for our class. We have been moving along with our program Tools of the Mind. The children enjoyed listening, making props and dramatizing several fairytales. Our class was transformed into Medieval Times as we read The Knight at Dawn from The Magic Tree House series. The children loved viewing the power point that gave the students background information about the place Jack and Annie visited. Each day the children are busy working on scaffolded writing activities. Children write during opening exercises with the message of the day, at center time when they write their center plans or chapter summary. In addition, every day we learned a new letter! Our students are almost done with learning all the letters and the sound it makes. We are applying our sounds to our writing and starting to read new words. They are doing an amazing job! We have also incorporated many different activities for the children to become self- regulated which is such an important component of the Tools Program. We are observing many ways that the children are becoming successful. We finished the month with Halloween! We had a blast at our Halloween party and the parade. It was a great day! Speech Therapist- Ms. Allen

Therapy Session Activities:

We continue to work hard during speech class in our small group/ individual speech therapy sessions. Speech instruction for all students is working toward complete carryover of accurate sound productions and/or improvement of language goals. Therapy sessions are individualized to each child’s needs, and technology of the iPad is being incorporated into therapy sessions as appropriate.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !11 Speech- Ms. Ticchio

Therapy Session Activities

Children have participated in speech therapy in small group and/or individual sessions. Students participated in a “roll a monster” following directions activity in which they were required to throw the dice and add the corresponding body parts to their monsters. The students’ various goals were addressed during this activity through comparison of their monsters and discussion targeting their target sounds and language goals. Many students additionally used spooky story cubes to create short, imaginative stories involving their target sounds. Various books were read and discussed this month, inducing The Monstore by Tara Lazar and The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis. Romping Monsters, Stomping Monsters by Jane Yolen was read with the pre-school students to practice following direction skills. Each therapy session is tailored to the needs of the child. The iPad and hands-on activities are implemented during sessions as appropriate.

Grade 1(Inclusion)- Mrs. Albanese/Ms. Humphrey

The month of October was a great month for our first grade class! The students are officially all settled into their new classroom

In reading, we continued to follow our reader’s workshop program. This month we learned how to retell a story. The students loved retelling the book Stellaluna. They even made their own bat to write what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story. The students also participated in various centers, which allowed them to choose their own book to retell. During the month of October the students also worked on new Orton Gillingham red words and spelling patterns. This month, they learned –l and –r blends. The students enjoyed completing different center activities daily to reinforce these new skills.

In math, the students continued working on perfecting their simple addition and subtraction skills. They also learned how to represent numbers on a ten frame, find the missing parts of 10, and find related addition facts.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !12 The students made a candy corn craft using three different related facts. The candy corn displayed two addition and one subtraction fact using a combination of three numbers.

In writing, we continued working with our new series, and incorporated the 6 Traits of Writing. The students completed their friendly letters and sealed them in a hand-made envelope. The students really enjoyed making their own envelopes!

In grammar, the student continued to learn about common and proper Nouns. The students participated in a Pumpkin Common and Proper Noun scavenger hunt. They had so much fun walking around the room finding different nouns!

Grade 1- Ms. Cortina

October was a great month! We decorated our room with pumpkins, bats, and many Halloween crafts! We read the book There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! By Lucille Colandro, and we practiced our sequencing skills by remembering the order of the things the old lady ate!

In word study, we have been work on beginning blends. This month, we covered “r” blends, “l” blends, and “s” blends. Every day we work in word work centers so that we remember our spelling patterns.

In reader’s workshop, we have learned how to read with a partner and share ideas. My students enjoy reading EEKK with their partners! (Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee), and sitting back to back to read privately. They love to share with their partners their favorite part of the story, and make connections with the book that they’re reading. We used witch fingers this month to keep track of where we are when reading a book and it was a big hit! We have been practicing retelling stories from beginning, middle, and end.

In math, we finished up to topic 3 so far! In topic 2, we learned how subtraction number sentences can be used to show missing part subtraction situations, and how inverse relationship between addition and subtraction can be used to find subtraction facts. In topic 3, we learned how to recognize numbers on a ten-frame, and how a known part of ten can be used to find the missing part. We started topic 4 addition and subtraction facts to 12.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !13 In writer’s workshop, we finished our first unit on personal narratives. We learned to apply COPS to our writing! We are always making sure that we are using capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling before we publish our writing. We learned how to write a friendly letter to someone.

In social studies, we have been learning about why it is important to follow rules and laws. We learned about different types of leaders. We discussed that we have leaders at home, school, and in our community. My students enjoyed picking a community leader of their choice, and then drew him or her. We discussed what a government is, and who our mayor, governor, and president is! We loved watching the Brain Pop videos to go with our lessons.

Grade 1- Ms. Cucuzza

In reader’s workshop, we have started our second unit of study. In this unit, students are learning how to maintain their focus during independent reading time. Through daily mini lessons, students have learned how to share what they’ve read with their reading partners. They have also learned to track their reading by using post- it notes. Our class continues to work hard on building reading stamina during quiet reading time!

In word study, students have learned many new phonics patterns using the Orton-Gillingham three-part drill. Students have mastered “S”, “R”, and “L” blends throughout the month of October. Every day, we have much practice encoding and decoding these words. Additionally, students rotate between five literacy centers to reinforce reading, writing, and phonics skills. The center rotation includes guided reading with the teacher, listening to reading, red word work, green word work, and writing. This is our favorite part of the day!

Children have completed topic two in the EnVision math series. Throughout the topic, Understanding Subtraction, students learned how to subtract using the part-part-whole strategy. They now understand the relationship between addition and subtraction. Students have also completed topic 3, five and ten relationships.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !14 In this topic, students learned how to represent and recognize numbers on a ten-frame. They also learned how to find missing parts of 10.

In writing, we are now in the full swing of writer’s workshop. Using Zaner Bloser’s 6 Traits of Writing, students have learned many different forms of narrative writing. Our favorite was learning how to write a friendly letter. We had so much fun writing letters to different students in the school, as well as friends they haven’t seen in a while. We have now begun informative writing and have started creating “All About Books.”

We had a blast celebrating Red Ribbon Week. Our class participated in a number of events throughout the week to support the Red Ribbon campaign. We pledged to make good decisions in the future regarding drugs and alcohol. We also had so much fun celebrating Halloween and walking in the annual parade!

Grade 1- Mrs. Jupinka

During our literacy block, we have completed all of the short vowel sounds. We have begun working with our diagraph friends; so far we have met Chomping Charlie, Shopping Shirley and have just been introduced to Thoughtful Thelma. We have learned many spelling rules. During our reader’s workshop, the children have been introduced to many ways to read independently as well as with their partners. The children are doing well in this area!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !15 In math, we continue to work with addition and subtraction strategies most recently using ten frames and tables. The children look forward to Math Club each Friday. We began our Mad Minutes practice. At the beginning of each math period, the children get a worksheet with 26 addition problems. We start with 4 minutes and each day after it becomes 1 minute less. This is done with the same problems for those 4 days. They get a new set of problems every 4 days. We will be also completing subtraction as well. They seem to love the challenge!

Health had a very busy month. We started the month with Respect Week reading many books and creating posters to show ways that we can be respectful. We continued the month with Fire Safety Week. We read books and made our own fire safety book.

Our month continued with Violence Awareness. We read many books and had a great discussion on the topic. Our month ended with Red Ribbon Week. We read many books and made puppets.

We concluded with Halloween safety as well.

POR/RTI Grade 1- Mrs. Caicedo

Happy Fall! October was an exciting month in the Resource Center! We continue to work daily on our phonics and decoding skills using the Orton-Gillingham multisensory reading program, and Reading Workshop where we focus on decoding and comprehension skills, such as different types of text, learning about our schema, making connections, and using our schema to make predictions using fiction and non-fiction texts. We explored books that are on our reading level and of interest to us and practiced decoding skills learned in Orton- Gillingham. Additionally, we began to apply skills and strategies learned in reading workshop and Orton- Gillingham, while reading independently and conferencing with the teacher. Some very important skills being taught and reviewed are initial consonant sounds for grade one and vowel teams in grade two. Finally, we have been using guided reading books from Reading A-Z and articles from Readworks to help with fluency and comprehension skills.

In math, second grade has been working arrays and how repeated addition is connected to multiplication. First grade has been working on doubles facts, in addition to addition and subtraction strategies.

Finally, first and second grade RTI classes are meeting on a weekly basis where students are working on decoding, encoding and phonemic awareness through Orton-Gillingham and reading comprehension skills using resources from Reading A-Z.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !16

POR/RTI Grades 1,2 & 3- Mrs. Micowski

We have been busy with our math facts this October. First grade completed adding and subtracting up to 8 and 9 and we are now working on adding up to 12.

Second grade has completed double facts, near double facts, and addition strategies and is currently working on greater than, less than, or equal to.

Third grade has completed addition properties, using mental math to add, and rounding. We are now working on subtracting three-digit numbers. We really enjoyed our Jack-O-Lanterns and getting into the Halloween Spirit!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !17 POR/RTI Grade2 & 3- Mrs. Gibney

Grade 2

October flew by very quickly!

In our IMSE Orton-Gillingham sequence, we have reviewed short vowels, the cvc pattern, compound words, and the doubling after a short vowel rule. We then moved onto beginning and ending blends, counting syllables, open and closed syllables, and “ng” and “nk” endings. We continue to follow the mainstream classes with red words.

Grade 3

In our IMSE Orton-Gillingham sequence, the third graders have worked on the sounds of “le” endings, the four sounds of “y”, “or”, “ar”, and “oo”. We also concentrated on types of syllables and decoding multisyllabic words.

For comprehension, we have read two chapter books. Miss Daisy Is Crazy was a fun book where we began to examine characters and character traits. We then began Doggone Third Grade. We continued to study types of characters and how to write about them by restating the question and giving evidence.

! Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !18 Grade 2- Ms. Delatorre

In math, students have used strategies to find addition and subtraction facts. They compared numbers, read and wrote numbers for numbers 0-99, and identified even and odd numbers. They used data from a chart to solve problems. They are continuing to take their 3 minute math tests to improve their automaticity, and are doing quite well. We continue to practice for their topic tests, using an interactive review game called Kahoot on the Ipads. Here is the October bulletin, which focused on fact families:

In reading, students have finished the first unit of reader’s workshop. They have formed reading partnerships and then used specific strategies while reading to tackle tricky words, recommend books, and respond and react. Students have viewed nonfiction texts and noticed and identified text features to help them learn more about the text. Here is a partner activity they worked on with previewing nonfiction:

Students continue to work in centers (Daily 5) and read independently on their reading levels to practice their fluency.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !19 Students learned how pronouns take the place of a noun. They also learned how to use collective nouns when referring to specific groups. They learned about adjectives, and described a student for the "Who is hiding under the sheet?" They are using these concepts in their journal writing, and friendly letters.

In writing, students wrote friendly letters to either family members or friends. They even sent them out and received some responses! They learned how to address an envelope and included all the components of a friendly letter. They are currently working on “How To” Writing.

In social studies, students learned about ways to be a good citizen, and why laws are important in a community. They were introduced to the government and the three legislative branches. We will continue with the jobs and responsibilities of each branch.

Grade 2- Mrs. Engel

For the month of October the students have been very busy participating in many fun activities that pertain to learning. The students created a “Spooktacular” neighborhood for our bulletin board outside of our classroom. The students generated interactive “Haunted Houses” by selecting addition facts to solve. The students applied addition strategies such as count on, doubles, or near doubles to solve the addition facts that were on their houses.

In reader’s workshop, we have been “Constructing Our Reading Lives.” The students have been talking to their reading partners to grow as readers. They have learned how to discuss and recommend books to their reading partners. The students have also learned how to solve their own reading problems like adult readers.

The students were very excited to publish their “Small Moment” personal narrative pieces in writer’s workshop. The students enhanced their writing pieces by using strong leads, dialogue, sound words, thoughts/feelings, show not tell, and strong endings.

The students were also excited to watch their teacher carve a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. After observing the steps of carving a pumpkin the children wrote the directions of “How to Carve a Pumpkin.” First, they started with a material list. Then they used transition words to help explain the directions. Finally, they drew detailed pictures to show their readers how to carve a pumpkin.

In math, we have completed topics three and five. The students have been counting back 1, 2, or 3 to subtract. They have been using addition to help them subtract. The students have also been working with place value. They have been identifying groups of ten and ones. The students have been reading and writing number words. They used a 100 chart to find 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, 10 less. The students have been using symbols (<,>, =) to compare numbers. They also have been identifying numbers as odd or even.

We are using multi-sensory techniques from Orton-Gillingham program to learn how to spell and read words during word study. The students have learned how to tap out two syllable compound words. The students have also learned how to use the meaning of the two smaller words in the compound word to help define the compound word. They have reviewed how to spell long vowel words with magic “e” and apply this spelling Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !20 rule when spelling two syllable words that contain magic “e”. We have also reviewed the sounds of l blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, & sl) and r blends (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, & tr).

In science, the students continued to learn about plants. As scientist we conducted an experiment to answer the question: “Do plants need sunlight and water to grow?” The students applied the five steps of the scientific method to see if plants truly need water and sunlight to grow. Students were divided into groups. Each group was responsible for one of the four test areas of the experiment. At the end of the experiment the students concluded that plants do need sunlight and water to grow. The children also learned about the importance of pollination through hands on activity. The students pretended to be bees. They buzzed to different flowers and collected/spread pollen (cheese balls) from plant to plant. Due to all of their hard work the plants in our classroom will be able to produce seeds that can be planted to repeat the life cycle of a plant.

Grade 2- Ms. Vega

For my first two weeks at the Doyle School in October, the students and I had an exciting time participating in Halloween activities. We read the hysterical story Creepy Pair of Underwear and wrote about what they would do if they encountered a creepy pair of underwear. The students also reviewed compounds words and made a Halloween compound flip book. Lastly, we put up our classroom word wall.

Grade 3- Mrs. Campagna

It is hard to believe that the first marking period is coming to an end! All of my students are thriving as third graders. I am very proud of them! Students continue to strengthen their independent and organizational skills.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !21 They are becoming experts at switching classes, writing in planners, and packing up to go home. They can also add technology wiz their impressive skill set. They are experts at using their Chromebooks to log on, search web sites, access web sites, and log off.

In reader’s workshop all of my students spent the month mastering the skill of finding the main idea of a passage, paragraph, and book. Details and evidence were cited to support the main idea. Students completed a fun center by stating the main idea of their favorite television shows and movies. All students completed their second class novel! Great job!! As we move into the next book and meet new characters and discover new story plots, students will be learning to compare and contrast.

My period 3/4 students joined Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose in the town of Greenlawn. The kids were upset and shocked when they heard the news that a ghost was scaring all of the guests out of the Shangri-La Hotel! The Haunted Hotel was a very exciting and fast paced second class novel to read. Finding clues, putting puzzle pieces together and reading between the lines helped us solve the mystery and save the hotel! Students were able to identify new vocabulary words and create definitions by using context clues. Students successfully wrote the main idea of each chapter and found supporting details. With our second class novel completed, class Book Talks allowed us to compare and contrast characters, settings, and themes. My third graders learned that solving a mystery is hard work but helping out friends is easy! I wonder where our next class novel will take us?? Google Classroom proved, once again, to be a very valuable tool to express and share ideas about the characters, plot, and plot twists!

My period 6/7 class became official students of the Dragon Slayers’ Academy this month! They joined Wiglaf and Angus who were forced to decide what to do when they found an unhatched pipling egg in the forest. The two were shocked when, much to their surprise, the egg hatched! The boys were soon the proud owners of a baby dragon. The boys tried to tame and train the baby dragon but they were not always successful! Soon, the boys found themselves with a big problem on their hands…they had to keep their little dragon a secret from the others at the Academy! Easier said than done!! The baby dragon learned to bounce, breathe fire, and fly. How do you hide a flying, bouncing, and fire breathing dragon??? Read the book 97 Ways to Train a Dragon to find out! While reading, students identified character traits, plot twists, vocabulary words, and the main idea. Book Talks, Literature Circles, and Book Clubs continued to keep our reading class lively this month! Predictions were made on Google Classroom!

In writer’s workshop, students continued to master the craft and structure of creating three, organized paragraphs. Unit 1of Writer’s Workshop comes to a close in November. Our next unit will concentrate on informational text as well as comparing and contrasting different texts. Students will have the chance to explore new web sites on their Chrome Books. They will learn to read and respond to non-fiction text, articles and videos. The Chrome Books will not only help with research skills but will also prove to be a powerful tool in sharpening keyboarding skills. Students will begin accessing and submitting their written work through Google Docs. They will also be learning to insert pictures and other text features!

Thank you for your continued support. Remember…I am an email away at [email protected]. Please visit my web page on the Wood-Ridge Schools web site for homework and important notices. Please continue to check your child’s planner for daily information.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !22 Grade 3- Mrs. Hynes

Math: Math classes wrapped up our chapter on rounding by recording a “Rounding Rap” video and having a “World Premier” of the video in our classroom! We also continued the tradition of the Doyle School Pumpkin Seed contest. Students from the HP class rehearsed a short script to be read in each classroom and brought the pumpkin for all to see and make their guesses. After guessing was complete, students with the help of Mr. Cipriano scooped out seeds and counted them before determining the winners for each class. Classes also began exploring various methods of adding and subtracting 3 and 4 digit numbers. Exposing students to various methods of solving addition and subtraction problems, allows them to “think outside the box” and gives them opportunities to see there is often more than one correct way to find a solution to a problem!

Social Studies: Students this month focused on chapters about how the environment influences communities. Students were able to consider what aspects of the environment may have influenced their families’ decisions to live in Wood-Ridge as well as what aspects of the environment may influence them someday when they chose a place to live. We also learned about the exploration and discovery of North America in our chapter about explorers. Students were very interested in the many reasons European explorers set sail and what they discovered and were especially intrigued by the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Many can’t wait to get to high school to take the “Unsolved Mysteries in History” class and learn even more about it!

Special October Happenings: Students completed lessons on anti-bullying and Red Ribbon Week. Students discussed the importance of having a safe school environment and how bullying can affect all students in a school. We also discussed the importance of saying no to drugs during red ribbon week. Students participated in theme days and completed various activities and classroom discussions about saying no to drugs and staying healthy.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !23

Grade 3- Ms. Moccia

In math class this month, we covered topics in chapter two and chapter three. In chapter two, we concentrated mostly on rounding numbers. We learned how to round numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. To help us become better at rounding we learned rounding rules and chanted rounding rhymes as a class. In chapter two, we also used rounding to estimate and check if our answers were reasonable. We will shortly be finishing up chapter three, which concentrates on adding and subtracting three digit numbers.

This month in social studies, we have learned a lot about our government and different communities. In topic 3, we learned about the French, Spanish, and English explorers. We discussed how all of these explorers traveled to the Americas. We also discussed the causes and effects of the American Revolution.

The month of October covered many important issues. This month we learned about respect, violence and vandalism awareness, and Red Ribbon Week. In class, we discussed the topics of respect and violence together. We shared ways to show respect and how to be violence free. This month we also celebrated Red Ribbon Week, which is a pledge to be drug free. As a class we created a list of the top ten reasons to be drug free.

Grade 3- Ms. Zielinski

In literacy, the students just wrapped up what is seeming to be one of their favorite novel studies, Third Grade Angels. The students have been working on strengthening and expanding their vocabulary skills, as well as finding synonyms and antonyms to replace words. They have also been working on creating predictions, citing the text as a basis for evidence to support their predictions. The students have all been working really hard to take their learning to the next level by using the text, more specifically page numbers , specific pictures or Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !24 instances in a story, to back up their ideas about what wil happen . We have been practicing identifying the main idea within a story or passage and further finding the evidence or details that support the main idea. The students have been enjoying using their witch’s fingers to track their reading and have also been using the Chromebook to read, write, and work collaboratively. The students have been doing an amazing job working incredibly hard to strengthen all of their reading skills!

In writing, the students have been working hard to strengthen their personal narrative writing. We have been working together to create strong leads and incorporate dialogue into our writing. More Recently, the students really enjoyed creating a small moment piece about a special memory. The students are learning how to write longer pieces and organize their ideas into paragraphs, as well as journal writing and incorporating skills learned into shorting writing tasks.

In social studies, we just wrapped up a unit of different kinds of explorers. The students learned about the Spanish, French, and English explorers. They really were fascinated to learn about what America was like back then and the struggles between the Native Americans and the early explorers. The students learned about routes these explorers took to find the Americas and the struggles they had along the way.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !25 Art- Mrs. Amerman

Pre-K students completed their scissor salads and began a work of art inspired by the colorful letter and number paintings by Jasper Johns. They began by choosing a color of construction paper, then selecting letter and number stencils to trace on their papers. They’ve also begun painting their letters and numbers with the primary colors and white, which has led to some fun learning about mixing the primary colors to get new colors!

The Kindergarten artists drew castles using both geometric and organic shapes, and then painted them with watercolor paint. This lesson paired nicely with the kindergarteners’ unit on the Jack and Annie book Knights at Dawn!

First grade artists have begun learning about another element of art called Value, which is how light or dark a color is. The lesson began with a challenge- students had to choose a color and figure out how to create two lighter values and two darker values of the color using oil pastels in their chosen color, white, and black. This was excellent practice for the next part of the lesson in which students will be mixing two lighter values and two darker values of a chosen color of paint, which they will use to create collages of ice cream cones.

Second grade artists have been working on underwater self-portraits that show Movement. Movement is one of the Principles of Design that gives the impression that something is moving within a work of art. Students learned how to make gesture drawings, which are quick, stick figure-like drawings of a person that show how the person’s body is positioned and moving. They practiced gesture drawings by observing their classmates as models in swimming poses. They then had to draw themselves with the appearance that they are underwater and that there is movement, starting with a gesture drawing.

Artists in third grade completed their realistic cake drawings inspired by Wayne Thiebaud. They learned how to add shadows and highlights to make it look like there is light shining on their cakes on one side and to make their cakes look more 3-D. They also answered some reflection questions about their artistic process and about the art of Wayne Thiebaud.

Physical Education- Mr. Aranda

For the month of October grades Pre K – 2 have been working mostly with Beanbags. They are great tools to use especially for our younger population. The students have explored manipulating and moving with beanbags in many fun and challenging ways, and have been learning the fundamentals of throwing and catching. Beanbag play is an excellent lead-up to ball play because the beanbags are much easier to handle, which in turn helps the students build their confidence when throwing or catching an object. Beanbags have many uses and because of their versatility the students were able to engage in a variety of individual, partner & group activities/games.

As for our third graders, they have been introduced to the PACER, which is an acronym that stands for Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run. The PACER is a fitness assessment used to measure aerobic capacity or cardiovascular endurance. It is a multistage fitness test adapted from the 20-meter shuttle run. This assessment is progressive in intensity – it is easy at the beginning and gets harder at the end. The progressive nature of the test provides a built-in warm-up and helps children to pace themselves effectively. The test has also been set to music to create a valid, fun alternative to the customary distance run test for measuring aerobic capacity. Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !26 The PACER is recommended for all ages, and for a number of reasons, including the following: • All students are more likely to have a positive experience in performing the PACER. • The PACER helps students learn the skill of pacing. • Students who have a poorer performance will finish first and not be subjected to the embarrassment of being the last person to complete the test.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Library/Media- Mrs. Diaz

Catherine Doyle Media students in grade 3 have been working on research projects, Inventors and Inventions. Students were given a choice of 6 inventors and inventions to research. Grade 3 also learned how to use Google Classroom, Google Docs, and Google Forms as part of their research development.

In grades K - 2, students are learning keyboarding skills that will help them throughout their school career. Examples include; learning the home row, maneuvering the mouse, hot to click and drag as well as cut and paste.

Circulation Reminder: Books can be returned every day during school hours. Children may check out books for a 2 week period with 2 renewals allowed. We do not charge fines for overdue books. However, fines are charged for lost or damaged books. Our first overdue notice is sent home after 30 days, with a second notice following at 60 days. After 60 days a third notice is issued, along with the replacement cost. Report cards will not be issued at the end of the year to students who have overdue books or unpaid fines.

Music- Mr. LaBelle

For the month of October, all grades started the first unit of their respective curriculum. Pre-k, K and grade 1 worked on identifying and categorizing dynamics aloud as well as visually.

Kindergarten worked on two-handed drumming patterns, developing fine motor skills.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !27 First and second grades worked on aurally transcribing rhythms using whiteboards. Dynamics were taught respective to each grade level. Student also worked on arranging songs with form and dynamics with songs they already knew.

Second and third grades advanced from white belts to yellow belts on xylophones and continued to expand their music literacy and performance. All grades worked on solfeggio warm ups and on Halloween songs.

ESL- Ms. Manicone

This month in Kindergarten we worked with several letters and types of fruit. We focused on B, P, and T. The class identified objects starting with each letter, and sorted them. We read books focusing on each letter, where students found items in the stories that began with the various letters. They wrote the letters in their journals and drew pictures of what started with the letter.

We also began discussing different types of fruit. The class started with identifying which ones, they do and don’t know. As they began to identify most of the different kinds of fruit, they would sort them into categories: what they like and dislike, what has a skin you eat and what has a skin you don’t eat. Students also, would pick 2-3 different pieces and would discuss the similarities and differences between the different fruit.

In grade 3, we worked to organize a writing piece in language arts, about a trip to the mall. We discussed the order that the events happened, and tried to mirror that sequence in our writing. Also, have been reinforcing vocabulary from social studies and from the novel they are reading in language arts.

Intermediate School

Grade 4 - May

Reading: Our classes have finished our first novel of the year, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. We analyzed all of the characters in the book, especially the main character, Peter Hatcher. The students worked on developing a character theory for Peter supporting it with evidence from the text. Students analyzed the character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, and dialogue throughout the book. In one chapter, the students worked collaboratively to develop newscasts reporting on the events of Fudge’s birthday DISASTER! They worked really hard on this project collaborating to write news reports and practice their presentation. It was a big hit with the students and we all had a blast being the audience! The students also learned how to respond to a question on a discussion forum through our Google Classroom page. Students love to respond to discussion questions and then reply to their peers. This allows students to make connections and learn from their classmates. We will continue this instructional practice throughout the year. To end the unit on character study, the students really enjoyed working in groups to complete character task cards and create character selfies. They even “tagged” other characters and wrote some pretty funny hashtags!

See pictures of our skits in action below….

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !28

Writing : In writing, the fourth grade students have continued using RACE as a strategy for responding to reading. The classes practiced answering questions about the novel while: R-restating the question A-answering the question in their own words C-citing text evidence using quotations and page numbers E-explaining evidence and answers to make a meaningful real world connection

This skill is very important for structuring open ended responses. Students have worked very hard to understand and apply each part of RACE in their writing. We have also continued working on enhancing our writing with better adjectives and “Show, Don’t Tell” where students need to work on “showing” details with enough description, using the five senses, to create a picture in the reader’s mind. We completed an Oreo activity, where students used sensory details about their experience eating the Oreo while actually doing it. We discussed smell, hear, see, feel, and taste. We also went on a nature walk to write descriptive paragraphs about the fall season in our state! The students loved this and are really enjoying this part of writing! To extend these lessons, the students started their first full narrative writing piece as well. We are working on writing our own Fudge stories to go along with the novel we finished. I cannot wait to see what mischief Fudge gets himself into through their stories! Next month, we will kick off our Informational Writing unit.

Social Studies: We are studying Chapter 2 on the Early Peoples of New Jersey. We learned about the Lenape Native Americans settling in NJ in Lesson 1. The class really enjoys having class discussions about this topic. The classes played a review game on KAHOOT and they absolutely loved it! It is a digital computer game that all students participate on using their class chrome books. Ask your child about it. I am sure they would love to tell you more about it!

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !29 We even turned our classroom into a museum and “became” archaeologists during the time of the Lenape. Students worked around the room with clipboards to analyze artifact photos and draw conclusions about how the Lenape lived and what was important to them. They really needed to work together and use background knowledge to make these connections. It was a big hit and we truly embraced discovery learning. See pictures of our museum activity below.

We have also just introduced our unit project of working cooperative groups to make model Lenape Villages. The students watched videos, took notes, and used our class chrome books and textbooks to think about an appropriate design for their model village. The village must have some representations of Lenape life such as cooking (fire), housing, hunting & fishing, and farming (crops). The villages must have a forest area and a water source represented. Letters and grading rubrics were sent home with the students to share with parents about expectations and details of the project. Feel free to let me know if there are any further questions. I believe this will be an exciting project for the students! We hope you can make it to come see their Lenape Village Gallery on November 22 at 9:00 AM.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !30

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !31 Grade 4 – Johnson

Math 1 –This month, the children worked on multiplying 2, 3, and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit multipliers. The children practiced their multiplication skills by completing various centers and playing card games in which they had to construct a number to arrive at the largest product. These various activities allow the children the opportunity to practice their skills in fun, game-like situations. We will continue to use these multiplication skills as we work with larger numbers and 2-digit multipliers in chapters 7 and 8. Children continue to work with problem solving skills by completing various enrichment activities both independently and in small groups.

Math 2- The students have worked to complete Topic 1, which reviewed basic multiplication and division skills. We’ve used white boards and other various manipulatives, which help students to visualize what a multiplication and division number sentence look like. From here we will begin multiplying 2, 3, and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit multipliers.

At this point we have started practicing PARCC type problems so that students are very comfortable with the format and presentation of the types of questions found on this test.

Science – We have finished our unit on weathering and erosion. This discussed the slow weathering processes. We are continuing the concepts by focusing on some of the processes that cause rapid changes to earth’s landforms. These include earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and others. Children are variety of methods to gathering and presenting information about such things to help them with their understanding. Hopefully we will be seeing some construction of volcanoes and earthquake resistant homes.

I cannot believe how quickly the year has been passing by. How can it be Halloween already! Here are some pictures of 4J on Halloween.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from 4J

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !32 !

Grade 4 – Ripp

Reading Fourth grade students have finished reading our class novel Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. The students worked on developing a character theory about Peter, the main character of the book. Each student wrote a character analysis to show what they have learned about inferring character traits by analyzing a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, and dialogue. In addition, the students picked their favorite scene from the book and created a small skit to act it out for the class. We had a blast watching each group’s presentations! The students really enjoyed working in groups to complete character center activities. The students listened to several read alouds on chrome books with their center groups and identified character traits and evidence. Other centers involved reading stories to analyze character motivation. The students also read a story and reflected through a discussion question on our Google Classroom. Students are able to respond to discussion questions and then reply to their peers. This allows students to make connections and learn from their classmates. We will continue this instructional practice throughout the year. Writing The fourth grade students continued practicing R.A.C.E. as a strategy for responding to reading. This helps the students learn how to support their thoughts about the books they read using text evidence. The classes practiced answering questions about the novel while: R-restating the question A-answering the question in their own words C-citing text evidence using quotations and page numbers E-explaining evidence and answers to make a meaningful real world connection This skill is very important for structuring open ended responses. The students really enjoy becoming “text detectives” to find evidence to support their ideas. The class has focused a lot this month on learning how to explain text evidence and make connections between what we read in books to the real world. We have also continued working on enhancing our writing with better adjectives and “Show, Don’t Tell” where students need to work on “showing” details with enough description, using the five senses, to create a picture in the reader’s mind. We completed an Oreo activity, where students used sensory details about their experience eating the Oreo while actually doing it. We discussed smell, hear, see, feel, and taste. We also went Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !33 on a nature walk to write descriptive paragraphs about the fall season in New Jersey! The students loved this and are really enjoying this part of writing!

Social Studies: We are studying Chapter 2 on the Early Peoples of New Jersey. We learned about the Lenape Native Americans settling in NJ in Lesson 1. The class really enjoys having class discussions about this topic. The classes played a review game on KAHOOT and they absolutely loved it! It is a digital computer game that all students participate on using their class chrome books. Ask your child about it. I am sure they would love to tell you more about it! We even turned our classroom into a museum and “became” archaeologists during the time of the Lenape. Students worked around the room with clipboards to analyze artifact photos and draw conclusions about how the Lenape lived and what was important to them. They really needed to work together and use background knowledge to make these connections. It was a big hit and we truly embraced discovery learning. See pictures of our museum activity below.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !34 Grade 4 – Romoff

In Math, the students have been working on skills in all the four operations. Children are able to add and subtract 4- and 5-digit numbers and will be working on these skills the entire year. We have also been working on multiplication and division skills and concepts. Word problems have been focused on this month and the students are learning how to create bar diagrams to make a pictoral representation of the problems. Students are very excited to begin learning 1-digit by multi-digit multiplication.

In Science the students completed the weathering, erosion, and deposition unit. They especially enjoyed activities involving breaking apart ramen noodles in various ways to demonstrate how weathering of rocks can work. Students also enjoyed sanding and dissolving fireball candies to show how mechanical and chemical weathering occurs in nature. Students have also been learning about volcanoes, the layers of the earth, what causes volcanoes, and where volcanoes most occur on earth. Students are amazed to learn that the island of Hawaii are all created from volcanoes over millions of years.

Grade 5 – Ciliotta

Math- Division Didn’t Scare Us!!! Students worked hard during the month of October to tackle long division. Students learned to estimate and relied on their basic fact foundations in order to divide and multiply larger numbers. They are progressing along nicely and should continue to practice their basic facts. We tried a new center activity that incorporated the use of an online QR Scanner. As a result of their hard work, we will be moving forward to our next topic on Volume and Solids.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !35 Science Matter Matters! Students have learned about the characteristics of all matter as well as how to identify matter using properties. Our investigations this month included learning about a special science family known as The Atoms Family and getting all mixed up while learning about mixtures, solutions and compounds. In addition to our labs, students also studied the Periodic Table of Elements by working on their Element Tissue Box projects. This year we have subscriptions to two programs that provide students the opportunity to access digital, current Science content. Science A-Z and MyON. Students are encouraged to access the sites in school as well as home. Next up, we will be learning all about Energy and Change.

! ! D.A.R.E Our D.A.R.E. program has begun and we are looking forward to another successful year with the program.

Grade 5 – Hamerling

5th Grade Social Studies

Students have completed Chapter 1: Early Civilizations. As a culminating activity, they were assigned a final project to demonstrate their understanding of Native American totem poles. In Lesson 3, we discussed how Native Americans created totem poles to visually display legends, cultural beliefs, or notable events. They were given directions to create their own totem poles that illustrated and described their own interests. After creating their totem poles, students then wrote a 5-8 sentences summary of what was displayed and how it connected to their lives. The totems poles are displayed on the hallway bulletin board, as well as in the classroom. Currently, students have started Chapter 2 which discusses early explorers. We have already learned about the Vikings and Portuguese explorers.

5th Grade Language Arts

At the beginning of the month, students reviewed two more comprehension skills - Making Inferences and Theme. We practiced the skills Making Inferences by reading the picture book The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg. While reading, we took notes about clues from the story that would help us figure out the stranger’s

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !36 identity, as well as what we already know from our own lives. To discuss theme, we read Dandelion by Don Freeman. After reading the story, students used a theme chart to decide which themes connected to what Dandelion went through. We reviewed these reading comprehension skills to help us further analyze Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli as we continued the novel. While reading, students have been identifying vocabulary words, as well as context clues within the text to determine their meanings. They have also answered short comprehension questions to check for understanding, as well as helped to write summaries for each chapter. These documents can be found on Google Classroom for review in the future, as well as an online version of the novel. Students also analyzed relationships that were formed in the novel. With the two characters chosen, we compared and contrasted them based on actions, appearance, etc., discussed why they liked or disliked each other, decided why they needed each other, and finally if their relationship would be considered positive or negative. Finally, students have started a writing assignment based on what they have read in Maniac Magee. Using Strategies for Writers, students have begun writing a Letter to the Editor. In our Strategies for Writers book, students learned about the six writing traits (ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency, word choice, and conventions). They also viewed a sample letter to the editor and used the corresponding rubric to score it, which will help them when thinking about what concepts they should be focusing on while they write their own letters. Students began their letters by using an outline to brainstorm ideas why they think Maniac is a hero or a nuisance. On Google Docs, students have begun composing their letters.

RTI – Hamerling

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a program designed to provide eligible students with extra support and intervention in English and/or Math. PARCC testing scores, STAR scores, teacher recommendations, and other criteria were used to determine which students in grades 4-6 would benefit from being included in this program. RTI classes meet once a week during a student’s Extensions period, so they do not miss regular content area classes. The goal of this program is to allow students to review skills/strategies in English and/or Math and help them improve these skills throughout the year. While this is an ungraded course (RTI will not show on a student’s report card), scores for assessments and activities completed in class will be added to Realtime when available for parents to review their child’s progress.

4th grade Students read a short book titled Zombies. While reading, students learned how to take notes on the most important facts or details in each chapter. We discussed vocabulary words specific to what we were reading. Students also answered comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding of the book. Our next unit of study will be character development.

5th grade Students have been reviewing place value with whole numbers. They have reviewed the location of each place value, as well as the value of each digit in its specific place value. Students also reviewed how to write numbers in standard, expanded, and word form. Currently, students are working with place value, but more focus is being placed on decimals.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !37

Grade 5 – Muscle

Mrs. Muscle 5th grade ELA HP

The students completed the class novel, Bridge to Terabithia. After completion, students wrote essays analyzing the main character, Jesse Aarons, and explaining how he changed as a character from the beginning, the middle, and the end. Students constructed thesis statements and used textual evidence to support their findings. Students will begin Book Clubs. Students will use learned strategies and skills to meet with small groups to discuss novels. The book selection will be based upon choice and lexile levels. Students will create “Thinkmarks" to track their reading and then respond to their assigned selections with a response. Students rotate through Club Captain, where they assess their group’s performance at each session. Students will then begin taking on different literary based roles. They include positions such as “Literary Luminary”, “Word Wizard’, and “Connector.”

Mrs. Muscle 5th grade ELA General Education The students are reading the class novel, Maniac Magee. While reading, students are writing letters to the editor the (fictional) Two Mills Times analyzing the main character of Jeffrey “Maniac” Magee. Students are choosing whether he is an asset or a nuisance to the community, providing their opinion, and then they are explaining how with text evidence.

Mrs. Muscle 5th grade Social Studies During Social Studies, the students are completing the exploration of the Europeans. They have studied the impact of new navigational technology and how European, specifically the Spanish, effected the lives of new settlers and the Native Americans. Students will conclude the unit by creating advertisements for sailors to join a specific learned explorer’s crew. Students are also using Rosetta Stone once a week to enhance their language development, as well as participate in the DARE program once a week with Officers Marchitelli and Vitkovsky.

Grade 5 – Oppido

HP Math: My HP students have completed Topic 5: Dividing by 2-Digit Divisors as well as Topic 12: Volume of Solids this month. During the topic on volume, the class was introduced to many different solid figures, learned how to find the volume of rectangular prisms as well as L-shaped compounds and solved real world word problems that dealt with volume. At the end of October, we started Topic 8: Numerical Expressions, Patterns and Relationships, which deals a lot with variables and solving for unknown amounts. Below are pictures of the students working together with life-sized cubes to solve problems based on the different views that solids can be seen from.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !38

Math: This month we spent a lot of time on Topic 5: Dividing by 2-Digit Divisors. The students worked very hard on this topic. We did a lot of cooperative learning and the class did a nice job helping each other since some students grasped the concepts quicker than others. After we got through the division, we moved onto Topic 12: Volume of Solids toward the end of the month. Below are pictures of the students working together with real life-sized unit cubes drawing the different views (front, side and top) of each solid created.

Science Classes: After we completed the quick project making the Element Cards (below is a picture our bulletin board) the class did a great job on finishing up the unit on Matter and taking the assessment. Once the test was over, the fun began! My two classes completed two labs on this unit. One lab dealt with different stations that each small group had to visit and determine if the items were a solution or a mixture. For example, one station they were required to take a spoonful of ice tea mix and dump it into a cup of water and stir it together to see what happens. Another station required them to view a bowl full of Skittles candy and determine if it was a solution or a mixture. As they visited each station, they had to complete a Data Sheet, answer open-ended questions as well as come up with a conclusion on the lab. Below are some pictures of the lab in action. The other lab had the students deciding on what kind of change occurred (chemical or physical) when matter was altered; this lab was led by Mrs. Oppido and watched by the students. Items such steel wool being moisten and left over night and vinegar being poured over baking soda were two of the activities the class witnessed during this lab.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !39

Grade 5 – Palmieri

Social Studies: The students completed chapter 1: Early Civilizations. As a cultivating activity, students worked on creating their own totem poles. The students discussed the importance of totem poles and how they were important to the Native Americans. After seeing examples of totem poles made by Native Americans, the students worked on creating their own. The students had to create totem poles that illustrated and described them. The totem poles needed to represent them and their interests. In addition to creating the totem poles, students wrote a short summary to describe why they included what they did on their totem pole and how it represented them. Students have started working on Chapter 2 which discusses exploration and the first explorers.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !40

Language Arts-Resource: Students continue to read the novel Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.. The students discussed character traits and how characters affect the story. The students came up with lists of character traits for each of the characters in the story and identified textual evidence to justify each trait as it related to each specific character. Students also worked on analyzing relationships between characters. We are currently reading part two of the novel.

Grade 6 – Borrelli

English- We have almost completed our first novel for the year, Holes. The students are enjoying the book a lot and are having a lot of fun reading it. We have learned the stages of the plot pyramid and types of conflict found in literature. The students completed a project where they designed a brochure for Camp Green Lake. Camp Green Lake is where Stanley is sent when he is wrongly convicted of a crime. Students explored the use of irony and sarcasm in their brochures and had a great time creating them. Our next unit will be Poetry. We will be reading and analyzing poems and also studying famous poets.

Social Studies – We have finished the second chapter in our books entitled The Fertile Crescent. The students learned about Mesopotamia and ancient civilizations such as Babylon and Assyria. The students discussed how the Phoenicians developed the first alphabet and other important contributions by these ancient civilizations.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !41 We also listened to a fun song on Ancient Mesopotamia. Our next chapter will explore Ancient Egypt. This is such an interesting chapter and it has so much for us to explore and learn. Everyone is looking forward to it!

Grade 6 – Negro

In science, students learned about the Big Bang theory. They also began to explore the question “What components make up the solar system?”. They completed center activities to learn about the 8 planets, and then confirmed what they learned independently through Power Point presentations and class discussions. Students worked on a project to display their understanding of the planets. In math, sixth graders learned how to find the greatest common factor and least common multiple of a set of numbers. Students also learned about statistical questions and statistical measures like mean, median, mode and range. The explored the topic of mean absolute deviation and made dot plots, box plots and histograms.

In the HP math class, students concluded their study of statistics by working with a partner to ask the class a statistical question and display their results using dot plots, box plots and histograms. They proudly showed off their projects to their classmates. Students are currently learning division of fractions which they are mastering with ease.

Grade 6 – Koernig

Language Arts-Students have done a great job implementing reading routines. They are diligently reading on Myon.com and keeping track of completed reading minutes in weekly logs. As our mentor text, we continue to read Holes, by Louis Sachar. We are focusing on the following reading skills: empathy, internal and external character traits, and how to correctly respond to reading questions using text evidence. Students are continuing to add information in their reading binders about the characters of Holes. Students did a wonderful job creating brochures for Camp Green Lake! The brochures were designed to be realistic and serious, telling parents what their children will experience if “sentenced” to Camp Green Lake.

In Writers Workshop, we studied titles and "Dead Words." Our grammar lessons are proving to be very helpful.

Social Studies- We are currently studying Chapter 2, The Fertile Crescent. The class enjoyed listening to a Mr. Nicky rap song about the Fertile Crescent. As a culminating activity, we will complete a cuneiform puzzle and students will write their own messages. Our next unit of study will be Chapter 3, Ancient Egypt.

Grade 6 – Molta

The month of October has been an exciting time in sixth grade. The students have embraced their role as the leaders in the school. It has been most enjoyable watching them run for student council, participate in spirit days, and dress up for Halloween. Math – So far, math has been a lot of fun here in sixth grade. Topic 5 consisted of dividing by whole numbers, evaluating expressions with decimals, fluently multiplying and dividing decimals by a whole number and by a decimal divisor. The students enjoyed playing multiplication war and using their graphing white boards to help us through this decimal-filled topic. We have just concluded Topic 14 – Statistics. We learned about statistical Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !42 questions, analyzing graphs and data set, mean, median, mode and range. We took advantage of this topic to use playing cards to create our data sets and then find the mean, median, mode and range of them. We also found the mean, median, mode and range of our first names!

Science – We have just concluded our second unit in Science which was The Earth & Its Solar System. The students loved this unit. We learned about the birth of our sun and solar system, the formation of planets, dwarf planets, and moons; the intricacies of galaxies, black holes and supernovas; the characteristics of comets, asteroids and meteoroids; as well as eclipses, tides and seasons. The students had to recreate the phases of the moon using oreo cookies which they had a blast doing!

Special Education – Carroll

Mrs. Carroll’s 5th Grade ELA resource room The class continued reading their first novel of the year, Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. The students answered short recall questions after reading each chapter. Students are increasing their vocabulary. They have practicing writing sentences for the vocabulary words and filling in context clues sentences with these new words. The class has focused on analyzing and comparing characters. They are learning new character traits and analyzing character. The students are also analyzing character relationship between each other: similarities, differences, type of relationship. Students are learning to summarize main events of chapters as they read. Students have been using MyOn or the classroom library during independent reading time. Students have been beginning each day with a daily writing prompt for their do now. They are working on getting their thoughts down and increasing their writing stamina. This month the class learned how to write a letter to the editor. They wrote a letter about a kid who does unthinkable things using evidence from the text. They learned how to identify the parts of a letter.

Mrs. Carroll’s 6th Grade ELA resource room The class continued their first novel, Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. While reading the novel students are focusing on vocabulary and character. Students are increasing their vocabulary. They have practicing writing sentences for the vocabulary words and filling in context clues sentences with these new words. Students learned to analyze theme within a piece of literature using text evidence to support the theme. Students took the STAR ELA for the Fall window as well as a teacher conducted Running Record to help the student with finding their independent reading level. Students have been using MyOn or the classroom library during independent reading time.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !43 Students have beginning each day with a daily writing prompt for their do now.. They are working on getting their thoughts down and increasing their writing stamina. Students learned how to combine information from news article and from a piece of literature. Students learned to sequence events from a text and write a sequence of events paragraph using transitional words.

RTI – Carroll

6th grade RTI-Math The class finished unit 1: division with 2-digit divisors. The class moved on to a unit on geometry: finding perimeter, area, and volume.

Special Education – Lanfranchi

5th Grade Math October has been a month of division for our class. Students have been working within Topics 4 and 5 of the Envision series. In Topic 4, students were dividing multiples of 10 and 100, estimating quotients, dividing by 1 digit divisors, and dividing with zeros in the quotient. Students also created a project called Spooky Division Houses. They received a page with riddles to solve using division. Once all riddles had been solved, students used their quotients to create their spooky division houses. Students also continue to use Think Through Math weekly to reinforce math skills.

5th Social Studies ICS During the month of October, students finished Chapter 1 and created a Totem Pole project to represent their personal interests. Students will begin Chapter 2:Age of Exploration and discuss how Europeans developed technologies to assist in finding a sea route to Asia.

5th Science ICS Our class continued looking at the states of matter by created an Element Tissue Box project. Each student researched an element from the Periodic Table and displayed their findings on the tissue box. Each student presented the project to the class.

RTI – Lanfranchi

4th & 5th Grade RTI To further practice working on identifying main ideas of a text, students have been reading various articles and completing center activities.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !44 Special Education – Panayoti

Resource Room Math Grade 4

The fourth graders have been practicing their multiplication skills with daily Do Nows. Each student gets two minutes to recall their multiplication and division facts. It is great practice for quick recall of math facts, which we will continue to apply throughout all facets of 4th grade math.

This month, the students investigated how sums and differences can be can estimated and the standard procedures for adding and subtracting whole numbers. Vocabulary and concepts were reinforced daily through center activities, such as matching, problem solving, drawing models, and using calculators to check answers. Videos and reinforcement activities are always available for students via Google Classroom as well as Imagine Math.

Resource Room Math Grade 6

The sixth graders spent the month of October investigating how quotients involving whole numbers and decimals are estimated and found. The use of compatible numbers was introduced, with students asking questions such as, “About how much?” and checking for reasonableness of their answers.

The students began to look at various data sets, with an introduction to interpreting Statistical Questions. Bar graphs, dot plots, and line plots were reviewed as well as reinforcement of mathematical practices such as modeling and writing to explain. Example videos and classroom reinforcements are available for students on Google Classroom and Imagine Math.

Grade 6 Science with Ms. Molta

This month, the sixth graders investigated the formation of our solar system. With the help of online videos, guided notes via Google Classroom, and interactive labs, the students learned about the characteristics of planets, celestial bodies, and other objects in our solar system. The students are excited to learn about the Moon, which is the next topic in our Science series.

Grade 4 Science with Ms. Romoff

The fourth graders continued to research the significance of landforms and rock formations. The students viewed online videos via Brainpop and Google Classroom and worked on defining key terms regarding the layers of the Earth. Sorting activities and puzzles were used to reinforce the concepts taught in class. The students are moving onto researching volcanoes and how the layers of the Earth contribute to natural disasters in our world.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !45 Special Education – Simpson

4th Grade ELA Resource Room This month the class has been learning about Stage #2 Red-Sight Words and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. We started the month with a review of 3rd grade skills understanding how sight words help us read with fluency. Students used spelling lists of red words to continue progress. How to write a summary teacher instruction. We have continued reading Tales of a Fourth chapters 1-8. The students were introduced to Author's Point of View and have a general understanding of the 4 different points of view. First, Second, Third Person Limited and Third Person Omniscient. All these skills were then used to find the Point of View for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Students then learned about RACE, Rewriting the questions, Answer the questions, Cite the text, Explain your answer. They ended the month a new list of red/sight words. Students also continued to work on their recall, vocabulary, basic skills practice through the completion of weekly packets for Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

ESL – Manicone

This past month we took time to complete the writing process on our trait writing pieces. After creating word webs, students outlined their stories and began writing, editing and finalizing their writing trait writing pieces. Throughout the month, we also took some time, to work on vocabulary found in the novels the students are reading in their Language Arts classes. For the 6th grade student who receives an additional period, we are working on WH question words. She started answering comprehension questions from the novel Holes, translated into Spanish, this past week, she began to translate her answers into English. We are also working on common adjectives used to describe people and items in school.

Art – C. Sterba

Grade 4 Art –

Students are working on artwork based off of the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. They are focusing on the monumental flower paintings she created, starting their projects by looking carefully at a flower and sketching it out in dramatically overemphasized proportions.

Grade 5 Art –

After learning a basic history of the Celts and studying the symbols that they used in their artwork, the students are creating their own Celtic-inspired designs. They are learning how to use a drawing compass and to create the complicated overlapping linear designs of Celtic interlace.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !46 Grade 6 Art –

The students worked on creating a still life drawing. They set up their still life themselves, carefully planning out the arrangement of the items to create the most interesting composition that they could. Using viewfinders, graphite pencils, value scales that they made themselves, and the skills they have been learning in class they created drawings of the objects from observation.

Music – Fernandez

General Music Classes

4th grade: Week 1- We learned the verse of the first song of our concert repertoire “Ode to Joy” . Week 2- The whole class reviewed the first and second verse of “Ode to Joy” and I added the refrain. Week 3- We did an activity that allowed the whole class to follow steady beat and practice coordination. Week 4- We finished “Ode to Joy” and had our first performance test on singing and incorporating good posture.

5th grade: Week 1- The class took lecture notes in music class on Ch 2: Conducting Week 2- We continued taking lecture notes for Ch 2 and learned more about time signature Week 3- I passed out rhythm instruments to all and we played the improvisation game. Week 4- We started our third chapter on Quarter notes, Rests and Barlines.

6th grade: Week 1- We’re focusing on dance styles in different generations Week 2-. We completed the lesson on learning about the different dance styles. Week 3- I passed out rhythm instruments to all and we played the improvisation game and also the music stone game. Week 4- The class learned in their textbook about creating and performing music.

Library/Media – Diaz

Wood-Ridge Intermediate School students in grades 4-6 have been working on their research projects. They learned terms such as, topic, thesis statement, hook and conclusion. Students were given a choice of topics in science or social studies to research. For some students they also learned how to use Google Classroom, Google Docs, and Google Forms as part of their research development.

Circulation Reminder Books can be returned every day during school hours. Children may check out books for a 2 week period with 2 renewals allowed. We do not charge fines for overdue books. However, fines are charged for lost or damaged Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !47 books. Our first overdue notice is sent home after 30 days, with a second notice following at 60 days. After 60 days a third notice is issued, along with the replacement cost. Report cards will not be issued at the end of the year to students who have overdue books or unpaid fines.

Physical Education – Rella

In Physical Education for the month of October, students continued working on fitness. In the beginning of the month, they finished their last fitness assessment. We measured their flexibility by taking part in the Sit and Reach Test. In addition, students learned about each of the 4 fitness components and the health benefits for improving them. Also, students engaged in various exercises to improve each component in a circuit workout format. Different levels of intensity were given of each exercise to accommodate everyone’s fitness level, so that all students can participate with confidence. The first fitness component discussed was Cardio-Respiratory Endurance. Some of the exercises students engaged in were jump roping, Pacer practice(running), mountain climbers, and jumping jacks. Also, students had the opportunity to engage in other activities, such as Zumba, Just Dance, and basketball games to improve their heart and lung function. Next, students learned about Muscular Strength and Muscular Endurance. Some of the exercises they performed were push-ups, wall sit, tricep dips, walking lunges, and abdominal crunches. Finally, students learned about Flexibility and practiced various Yoga poses. Some of the poses were the warrior, cobra, triangle, posterior, and seated forward bend. October was a very busy month and I am so proud of all of our students for working hard in P.E. this month!

Speech – Avella

Therapy Session Activities:

Speech-Language therapy took place in the classroom and speech-therapy room. Children participated in group and/or individual sessions which were tailored to each child’s individual needs. October focused on exciting Halloween themed activities. Students practiced their articulation skills by coming up with Halloween themed words which had their sounds in them. Students also developed creative spooky stories using new vocabulary words (i,e, corpse, repulsive, phantom). Lastly, students answered inferential and factual questions pertaining to Halloween stories (i.e. Legend of Witches) Many of the goals worked on included mastering a particular sound such as /s/ /z/ /th/ /r/ /l/ /sh/and /ch/ and increasing vocabulary, comprehension, and inferencing skills.

STEM Club – Oppido

We had our first meeting on October 26, 2017. It was a huge success! There were a total of 51 students who participated; 22 fourth graders, 15 fifth graders, 14 sixth graders. With this being the introduction meeting, my goal was just to get a feel for how many students in each grade were interested, to hand out the schedule for each grade level as well as to give out the Remind directions for their parents to sign up to receive messages from me throughout the school year. Once that was done, I had the students go into small groups (which needed to consist of a student from each grade level) and quietly wait for the directions to their first activity. They were required to create the tallest tower by only using index cards. They were allowed to do anything they wanted to the index cards, however, that was the only material they could use. Some groups immediately started to try to Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !48 build while others actually wrote out a plan and drew something first. I didn’t set any rules or expectations for this, as I wanted to see what they would do with very little direction. As I walked around, it was interesting to see who was “taking charge” and who was taking a back seat to this task. At the end, I only gave them about ten minutes to work, the tallest was 51 inches while the shortest was 11 inches. Below are some pictures I took while they were working.

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Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !49 ! !

Muscle - Drama Club Monthly Report

The Drama Club held meetings in October. We met on October 11th and October 19th.. During these meetings, students were divided by grade levels and viewed information about the characters from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. These character descriptions provided students with the opportunity to get an idea of whom they want to audition for. Students also viewed audition materials and links to other performances and the show’s music. Next month, we will begin the long process of auditions.

Fernandez. - Choir Club Monthly Report

Choir Rehearsals:

Wednesday, October 11th (40 Attended) ● We did vocal warm-ups and exercises. We sang through Jingle Bells and completed 7/9 pages.

Wednesday, October 18th (36 attended) ● We did vocal warm-ups and exercises. We finally completed our first song “Jingle Bells” all 9/9 pages. We looked into our next song “I’ll be home for Christmas”. The girl and boy solo was presented to the choir and then we sang through the entire song just to get a feel for the music. Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !50 Art Club/Stage Crew -Carroll

Attendance:

October 3: 18 members grade 6

October 10: 20 members grade 4; 8 members grade 5

October 17: 19 members grade 6

October 24: 19 members grade 4; 8 members grade 5

The Art Club had 4 meeting during the month of October all dedicated to the PTA sponsored Trunk or Treat Program.

Students created tri-fold displays of Halloween images with opening for faces to be placed in.

6th grade:

5th grade

4th grade

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !51 Student Council - Johnson

Those students who were interested in running for student council met together during the month of October to discuss speeches and posters. Each student was responsible for writing a speech explaining why they thought they would be a good candidate for student council, and designed a campaign poster that was hung throughout the hallways of the building. Elections were held the Week of October 16th. The 4th and 5th graders presented their speeches to their individual homerooms and voting was completed at that time. We have one student representative from each 4th and 5th grade class. The 6th grade classes all met in the cafeteria on October 19th to listen to the 6th grade candidates’ presentations. Again, voting was held immediately following. All the children did an amazing job. I was so proud of each of them.

Congratulations to the 2017-2018 WRIS Student Council Officers and Representatives

Officers Anurage Mathews – President Vansh Zota – Vice President Michael Lambe – Treasurer Mia Sebastian – Secretary

Representatives

Jake Burke – 5M Ryleigh Lange – 5O Zoe Herishen – 5 P&H Henry Magnusson – 5C

Grace Ottevaere – 4M Kaitlyn Fiorillo – 4J Owen Dodds – 4Ri Grace Masterson – 4Rm

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Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !52 Safety Patrol – Simpson

There were two meetings held this month that discussed the following. We have a total of 20 students for Safety Patrol

● Expectations . This is an Honor Society Position.

● October is Anti-bully month

● Scheduling and changing of post and substitute when absent.

● Introduction to, “CAPS”. This is how we conduct ourselves as Safety Patrol Officers.

Journalism - Diaz

Journalism Club has put out their very first edition of The WRIS Gazette. Each student in the journalism class has a very specific job based on what their interests are. Our very first copy is complete and ready for the printers. We hope you enjoy the first copy!

Meeting 10/10/17 Meeting 10/24/17 Mia Sebastian Kiara Campo Lily Sebastian Jake Wall Michelle Lambe Mia Sebastian Michael Lambe Lily Sebastian Lauren Kerdersha Lauren Kerdersha Owen Dodds Owen Dodds Samira Lamboy Samire Lamboy MaryGrace Milne Mary Grace Milne Vansh Zota Jake Wall Anurag Mathews Jack Milne Vansh Zota Anruag Mathews

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !53 WRJRSRHS

English Department

Pete Forman 11th Grade American Literature Junior American Literature students are working on "research simulation tasks" focused on the relationship between primary and secondary sources. Students will also be reading the works of Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe as they create formal slide show presentations analyzing the components of fiction.

11th Grade Honors American Literature Honors classes are continuing to develop their course wide web sites while working in their collaborative learning groups. In addition, the class is beginning a unit on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Students are busy preparing for their field trip to Philadelphia PA where they will tour the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site.

Christine Green English 4 AP Students are busy reading, writing and developing their analytical skills. They are completing College Board Multiple Choice prep tests, and the essay writing sections of the College Board AP test in May 2018. They have just completed "The Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway and will be completing a written and verbal text analysis on the selection.

Eng 4 College Prep Students have just completed the Anglo Saxon period in British literature and will be moving on to the Medieval unit next. They are developing their skill level in literary terms, vocabulary and public speaking. They completed Anglo Saxon poetry selections from the ancient manuscript "The Exeter Book.

Eng 4 Honors The Honors class completed the play "Pygmallion" by George Bernard Shaw and will be moving on to their next reading. They completed Socratic Circles and are skill building in literary terms. Each reading is followed by verbal and written text analysis.

Kimberly MIllar English II The English II classes have finished Book 1 of Richard Wright’s novel Native Son as they continue to read literature that addresses the progression of racism in America from the 1930’s to modern day. Students are

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !54 now completing graphic organizers that compare three poems with contrasting perspectives about America. One was written written by Walt Whitman, I Hear America Sing, Malcolm X’s And You Call Me Coloured, and Langston Hughes’, I, Too, Sing America. Students will continue reading Book 2 of Native Son as the first marking period comes to an end.

Kimberly Millar AP English Language and Composition The juniors have been introduced to and have written several rhetorical analysis essays. We have started a unit on Early American literature of the Native Americans and the original colonists. We are analyzing the literature, identifying common themes as we read about the first settlements from the perspective of both the Native Americans and the original colonists. Students are examining how the Native Americans’ perceptions differ from that of the original colonists’. Students will later use these works to generate a synthesis essay.

Lara Schmitt 7th Grade English Resource Support Center The seventh grade students have been working hard reading a variety of short stories and adjusting to more rigorous expectations and curriculum at the Wood-Ridge Junior/Senior High School. While reading, they have been simultaneously practicing their vocabulary skills as well as analyzing various literary elements. We are looking forward to writing our Personal Narratives in the next few weeks!

Ms. Schmitt 8th Grade English Resource Support Center The eighth graders have been having a blast reading “The Outsiders.” The students have been analyzing characters, themes, vocabulary, and literary terms related to the novel, as well as connecting the different aspects of the text to the real world. Students have also been writing in response to the reading of the novel, crafting a poem on one of the characters and creating a “Wanted” poster for another, all to show their understanding of the book. We are looking forward to finishing up “The Outsiders” in the next few weeks!

Ms. Schmitt English I Resource Support Center With only a few weeks left of the first marking period, the ninth grade students have successfully adjusted to the expectations of the rigorous curriculum of English I. We have been busy reading a variety of short stories by both American and British authors, analyzing literary elements in these stories and making connections to other texts and real world situations. We have also been writing for a variety of purposes and audiences, making sure that we support our conclusions with specific and strong evidence.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !55 We look forward to finishing up our short stories unit and tackling our first novel, Speak, in the next few weeks!

Valerie Hunter English I English I students are finishing a unit on short stories in which they read “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, “The Interlopers” by Saki, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, and “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. They analyzed the stories’ usage of literary terms including character, plot, irony, setting, foreshadowing, symbolism, and theme by writing reader response essays. Students are also reading a fiction book of their choice independently, and writing about their book’s protagonist. English I Honors English I Honors students have begun reading Charles Dickens’ classic novel Great Expectations, and have written analytical responses to questions about character and plot. They also wrote and peer edited research papers about the merits of Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, which they finished reading at the beginning of the month, and they reviewed colon and semi-colon usage. Creative Writing 7 Creative Writing students learned about the components of short fiction, including conflict/ resolution and dialogue. They wrote their own short stories, as well as writing simile/ metaphor poems, flash fiction, and essays that experimented with sentence length. Students ended the month by writing scenes from a play.

Matthew Bogert English 7 As the year continues, students are working on their first research paper about a poet of their choice. Students are learning MLA formatting and how it is used throughout the research paper especially with in text citations and works cited pages. Students have completed their reading of short stories and will be starting their first novel The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

English 7 Honors As the year continues, students are working on their first research paper about a poet of their choice. Students are learning MLA formatting and how it is used throughout the research paper especially with in text citations and works cited pages. Honor students have completed their first of three Dialectical Journals and have begun reading their first novel The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.

Melissa Papp Grade 8 English Language Arts The grade 8 students have worked diligently this month on clarifying commonly confused words, the use of active voice, and a selection of vocabulary and applied this information in their classwork. This month, the grade 8 students have continued to relate Animal Farm by George Orwell to the Russian Revolution through analyzing the text, speeches, poems, and pieces of propaganda. Using the novel as textual evidence, the

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !56 students discussed themes of power and corruption, the dangers of being uneducated, rules and order, and language as a tool for manipulation. Grade 8 Honors English Language Arts In addition to relating Animal Farm by George Orwell to the Russian Revolution through analyzing the text, speeches, poems, and pieces of propaganda, the Honors students let thoughtful discussion regarding the author’s purpose and decisions in creating the novel. The honors students discussed themes of power and corruption, the dangers of being uneducated, rules and order, and language as a tool for manipulation, while supporting their arguments with textual evidence. Throughout the month, they also have applied new understanding of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary to their studies. Mass Media Mass Media students taught flipped classroom lessons to one another about a variety of topics on mass media including stereotypes, sports, social media, and politics and their impact on society. Then, students interviewed teachers and peers to create “Student Spotlight” pieces using a combination of informative and entertaining writing on student choice topics. Finally, students analyzed and constructed “Self Help” articles to provide clear steps on relevant topics. Each of these pieces have been workshopped and published on Google Site student portfolios. ELA Skills, Grade 8 Students gained factual knowledge about the “close read” and developed practical approaches to close reading paired passages including focusing on key ideas and details, craft and structure, and connecting themes. Then, using this reading model, students applied these skills to sets of paired short literary works through sharing, parsing, and applying new vocabulary as well as discussing “big ideas” about life, which paired texts discuss, especially with a focus on identity.

Kelly Manicone ESL This past month my classes have been busy. We finished learning how to correctly use past tense verbs in conversations, writing, and answering questions. Irregular past tense verbs were more difficult for some students to tackle, but they were successful when using regular past tense verbs. We also finished up a unit on the vocabulary found in the Preamble to the Constitution. The students would find: synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, examples, definitions and create sentences for the following words: union, establish, justice, domestic, tranquility, defence, promote, welfare, blessings, liberty, posterity and ordain. Students took turns explaining what different parts meant, and rewriting the Preamble in their own words. Also this month, we added an additional class for students who need more foundational skills. They started conjugating present tense verbs, and reading brief elementary level articles about famous immigrant contributions.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !57 Social Studies Department

Steve Schneidman 7th grade Honors We have finished with the chapter on the first Americans. We are currently working on the chapter on European explorers, including the Vikings, Christopher Columbus, and others. The students are doing a project on Columbus, where they are researching his accomplishments. They are to decide if Columbus was a hero or a villain. The students will present their findings to the class. 8th grade Honors They have finished the chapter on the “Age of Jackson”. They are currently working on a DBQ, a mini research paper on “ How Democratic was Andrew Jackson”. The assignment helps students to analyze documents so they can answer the question using the documents as their evidence to prove their point. 8th Grade We finished the chapter on Jefferson’s presidency and the War of 1812. They are currently on the chapter about creating a new American identity. The topics include American foreign policy, including the Monroe Doctrine, nationalism and sectionalism, the Missouri Compromise. Also, include in this chapter is a new American culture, with new writers such as Washington Irving, new school of art, the Hudson River School. The chapter also includes changes in music and education.

Writing Workshop is working on the writing process and they wrote a biography, they also wrote a short paper on the place they would most like to visit. All of these assignments include research.

Kimberly Forsyth Social Studies 7th Grade This month in Social Studies students have been working on learning how to write DBQ or Document Based Question essays. They have explored the purpose of a hook statement to attract readers, analyzed primary and secondary sources to extract key information, and learned how to “bucket” facts from each source to organize their DBQ paragraphs. Students have honed their writing skills and made connections with material in their English classes.

U.S. History II This month in U.S. History II, students have been analyzing the causes of the Great Depression and the impact it had on the economy, familial relationships, social norms, and cultural traditions. We “personified” the hardships of the Great Depression through the story of James J. Braddock, a famous Depression-era boxer from Bergen County, NJ who overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges on his way to a heavyweight title.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !58 Victor Minnocci Social Studies U.S. History II The classes analyzed the causes and effects of the Great Depression. This was followed by President Hoovers response to the depression. Hoovervilles were discussed. Breadlines and soup kitchens and other forms of relief were analyzed. The 1932 election FDR v. Hoover was explored, the outcome of FDR’s victory and his promises to the nation were determined to be a positive change in the government’s response to the crisis. The repeal of prohibition New Deal programs and the positive effects of each was a welcome change. The classes completed a photo analysis of the depression and a song analyze project. The Honors class was given honors levels assignments along with more writing assignments and different tests and quizzes. This chapter will be completed by the end of October and the next chapter 24 will begin. World War Looms. Currrent Issues The classes continue to evaluate current issues internationally and nationally. The topics included North Korea, Iran, the continuing wars against terror and the Las Vegas shooting. The classes complete current event assignments using the Nesella and New York Times websites. Law The class began the month completing the court system. Trial Courts, Appeals Courts State and Federal courts and completing the chapter by analyzing the jury system and reviewing recent cases before the Supreme Court. This was followed by Crime in America. The class explored the nature of crimes, crimes on campus, gangs and crimes, guns and the law, substance abuse and crime, victims of crime and discussed what could be done to prevent crime and how to protect yourself. The essay assignment topic was “Mercy Killing.”

Gianna Catalano Social Studies US History I (Inclusion included) The class continued with the reading and understanding as well as analyzing the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. Each week the class has been reading and analyzing one specific Amendment from the Bill of Rights. Students created a project with a partner focusing on one specific Amendment and had to present their finding to the class. Students completed a document based question, which asked them to explain which three of the ten amendments they believe are the most important. Students were then assessed on their knowledge of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights. US History II The class continued to explore FDR’s New Deal and first 100 days as well as the second New Deal and FDR’s second term as president. Students analyzed how minorities were treated during the 1930’s as well as the culture surrounding the time period. The class then began a Document Based Question essay, which had them analyze and explain if FDR’s New Deal was a success for the country and the role of the federal government during the Great Depression. Students were then assessed on the Great Depression as well as the New Deal. Unsolved Mysteries in History The class continued to research and explore the mysteries behind Ancient Egypt through watching a documentary as well as reading different articles. Students then had to write a research paper in which they got to pick one of the three mysteries: the pyramids, Sphinx, or mummies they found to be the most interesting. They had to choose a theory or come up with their own surrounding that mystery and try to prove Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !59 what really happened using substantial evidence. After completing the unit on Egypt the class began to explore the Bermuda Triangle. Students were given multiple case studies that they had to research and answer questions about. Following the cases given to them, they then had to find their own case and present their findings to the class. Students watched a documentary highlighting the different theories that may help explain the Bermuda Triangle. From there, students then began to write their research papers either explaining the Bermuda Triangle as a whole through different theories or picking a particular case and writing their paper on what happened in that scenario. Students will soon start to look at the lost city of Atlantis and the mystery behind it.

Stephanie Gaven US History I Honors After learning the foundation of the Constitution, students focused specifically on the Bill or Rights learning all of the details behind the first 10 Amendments. Learning about their rights and the freedoms we possess, students were able to better understand these important aspects of our Constitution for their own personal benefit. The Bill of Rights affect us on a regular basis and without a clear understanding of what they are or how they impact us students will never be after to protect their freedoms. We have been having meaningful discussions on these topics and the material could not be more relevant. The unit concluded with presentations in teams of two where they researched the meaning, historical background, Supreme Court cases, and current issues surrounding a particular right guaranteed in the United States Bill of Rights and a Document Based Question essay.

Stephanie Gaven US I History US History students had a fun filled month as we debated, analyzed, evaluated and interpreted current laws involving individual rights and national security. We ended the month giving presentations in teams of two where they researched the meaning, historical background, Supreme Court cases, and current issues surrounding a particular right guaranteed in the United States Bill of Rights and writing a Document Based Question essay. Stephanie Gaven Sociology In October we began our study of socialization! We first debated the socialization issue “nature vs. nurture” and evaluated the impact that social institutions have on our lives. Next we “looked ourselves in the mirror” to determine who we are and what roles we play. To finish out the month students will write an essay in which they assess how “real” TV is compared with what we see and do every day and complete a Socialization lab.

Stephanie Gaven Public Speaking and Debate In October we evaluated techniques used for organizing a successful speech. We began viewing and critiquing the introductions of famous speeches, which required students to complete a short reflective essay. To implement use of proper introductions and outlining, students then researched and gave an informational speech in front of their peers. Next month students will complete the same process to prepare a persuasive speech on a different topic of their choosing. Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !60

Mallory Garvin World History and World History Honors World History and World History Honors studied the religions of the world to get a greater understanding of the various systems of faith and the conflicts that have raised between the various religions. Students learned the basic tenets of the religions and some of the modern day conflicts that exist. Students also learned that religious conflicts have existed all over the world throughout history. We analyzed the cause and effect of the Protestant Reformation and the impact it had on the world.

Students also worked on a project throughout the month researching a Modern Leader and creating some for of presentation on them. World History Honor students have been juggling the rigid requirements of the course with additional readings and DBQs with a level of ease. As the year quickly moves forward and our world becomes more and more complex the mounting need for the materials in this course grow.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !61

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !62 National Honor Society National Honor Society had a busy month as always. After attending Habitat for Humanity on October 4th and building a house in Andover, students spent hours stuffing envelopes for the Wood-Ridge Memorial Fund and delivering them throughout town. As always the students are going above and beyond and work tirelessly. We are all excited for the approaching induction ceremony next month and the additional inductees.

Class of 2019 Update The Class of 2019 is off to an incredible start this year! Upon electing our officers, (Evan West- President, Amir Lopez- Vice President, Emily Aviles- Secretary, and Ruri Kim and Sara Diras as Co-Treasurers) we started immediately as the officers came up with 15 various fundraisers for this year. With many fundraisers on the horizon the Class of 2019 started off with a bang, selling Blue Devil phone wallets! This fundraiser was hugely successful!

Our pumpkin seed contest was also successful as Drew Packen won the Halloween Basket after guessing 478 seeds. There were 465 seeds in our pumpkin upon counting!

Weight Room Update The weight room has been busy with younger students who are looking to get stronger and stay in shape in their off season. These students work extremely hard and take their exercise quite seriously wanting to improve and enhance their athleticism. While they do enjoy having fun while with their friend in the weight

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !63 room that are very serious and are knowledgeable of all proper techniques at this stage of the year. Ms. Garvin is so proud of all of their hard work and dedication.

Physical Education

Joseph Vaccaro Grade 8 Physical Education Students continued with class in the Fitness center. Students have also been required to maintain their logs based on each exercise they completed for each day. Students are always reminded on how to manage their workout routines, exercise safely and with spotter/partner, they are also given lessons to understand the importance of these exercise in relation to lifelong fitness. In addition, we added a regular cardio vascular workout day to the weekly schedule. On these days each student is responsible for maintaining a certain Heart Rate for the duration of the exercise. After each cardio day, we proceed to stretch as a class. Grade 11 Physical Education Students continued with class in the Fitness center. Students have also been required to maintain their logs based on each exercise they completed for each day. Students are always reminded on how to manage their workout routines, exercise safely and with spotter/partner, they are also given lessons to understand the importance of these exercise in relation to lifelong fitness. In addition, we added a regular cardio vascular workout day to the weekly schedule. On these days each student is responsible for maintaining a certain Heart Rate for the duration of the exercise. After each cardio day, we proceed to stretch as a class. Grade 12 Physical Education Students continued with class in the Fitness center. Students have also been required to maintain their logs based on each exercise they completed for each day. Students are always reminded on how to manage their workout routines, exercise safely and with spotter/partner, they are also given lessons to understand the importance of these exercise in relation to lifelong fitness. In addition, we added a regular cardio vascular workout day to the weekly schedule. On these days each student is responsible for maintaining a certain Heart Rate for the duration of the exercise. After each cardio day, we proceed to stretch as a class. Grade 10: Driver’s Education Students are continuing to prepare for the NJ State Permit Exam. For the month students have completed chapters 4-7 in the book and taken 1 additional test for the month. Students have been completing Current event assignments in order to be aware of any law changes to the NJ Driving System, we have also used current events to evaluate ways to handle adverse driving situations should they occur. As a class we are right on track and prepared for the State Permit Exam.

Lucia DiNapoli Physical Education Physical Education classes continue to work towards their ideal fitness levels through our weekly rotational program between the Weight Room, Target Heart Rate training and activities. They have covered half of the machines and equipment in the weight room and are required to use that machine on that given day. This allows the student to try something they haven’t before and to help break any stigma they may have against them. (Example being woman shouldn’t be using the bench press) Then they must complete a worksheet with their fitness activities of the day. Target Heart Rate training consists of reaching and maintaining their Heart

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !64 Rate at a specific rage for the duration of 20 minutes. This is preceded by a warm-up and ended with a cool down stretch. The activities offered this month are Soccer and Kickball.

The students were also tested on their fitness levels via push-ups, sit-ups and sit and reach for FitnessGram testing.

Andrea Marino Physical Education grades 7, 8, 9 Students continue to follow a schedule of an activity day, weight room day and run day. Grades 7, 8 and 9 have been filling out workout logs on our weight room days. They must complete a series of workouts for the day, such as three upper body, and three lower body exercises. They have the option to complete any exercise they wish. Students have also continued to keep in their target heart rate zone by a run/ speed walk once or twice a week. This is to provide them with a lifelong activity that can make a difference in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Students that have completed their workouts and run, then may pick an activity of their choice to finish up class.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !65 Chris Lange Physical Education 7th Grade - Physical Education The students learned how to develop a fitness plan. Students learned Weight training using machines and free weights. Students learned cardio workouts and how to monitor their target Heart Rate Zone. Students performed dynamic warm up/flexibility exercises. Students learned core training and how to incorporate stability balls and additional training equipment into their workouts. 10th Grade Physical Education The students learned how to develop a fitness plan. Students learned Weight training using machines and free weights. Students learned cardio workouts and how to monitor their target Heart Rate Zone. Students performed dynamic warm up/flexibility exercises. Students learned core training and how to incorporate stability balls and additional training equipment into their workout. 10th Grade Driver Education The students learned how to prevent collisions, how to deal with aggressive drivers and road rage. Students learned safe driving distances, to not tailgate and proper following distances. Students learned how to drive with poor road conditions and with reduced visibility. Students learned the effects of alcohol and drugs while driving.Students learned how much is too much and legal levels in relation to DWI. Students also learned about violation surcharges and violations. Students learned how to share the road with others including pedestrians, motorcycles, trucks, tractor trailer, and buses. Students learned the no Zone principles and proper following distances and driving next 2 trucks. Students learned vehicle information with regards to title and registration license plates, and vehicle inspections. Officer Geisler from the Wood-Ridge Police Department was a guest speaker and spoke on the dangers and realities of DWI and driving under the influence. 12 Grade Physical Education. The students learned how to develop a fitness plan. Students learned Weight training using machines and free weights. Students learned cardio workouts and how to monitor their target Heart Rate Zone. Students performed dynamic warm up/flexibility exercises. Students learned core training and how to incorporate stability balls and additional training equipment into their workout.

Science Department Ted Colarusso Medical Terminology Students are entrenched in learning a new language: “The Language of Medicine.” The beginning is the introduction of terms, by use of props, worksheets, reading X-ray, CT scans and videos of actual surgeries, each followed by class discussion. Students continued to expand their knowledge of this new language by discussing major body parts (both internal and external) Further discussion of the addition of medical prefixes and suffixes to previously learned root words are explored. Students continue to develop a more professional view of the language by discussing basic surgical procedures in the language a physician would use. (They have found making the vocabulary flow smoothly will require constant study and use.) Students continue to develop their understanding of the construction of complex medical terms by combining Greek and Latin prefixes, root words and suffixes.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !66

Anatomy & Physiology The Anatomy & Physiology students have completed an introduction to histology and the four major classes of tissues, as well as starting to explore the anatomy and physiology of the skeletal system. A skeletal bone practicum will be conducted in a cooperative setting. The class is now learning the bone structures and functions based on the axial and appendicular skeletons. Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !67

Zoology The Zoology classes have been actively engaged in a wide variety of science practices, performing multiple labs and exploring multiple scientific concepts. We performed a microscope based lab exploring mitotic cell division found in animal blastula clusters, chromosomal simulations of meiotic gamete formation, and we reviewed the mechanisms of DNA replication and inheritance patterns in animals. In addition, the zoology

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !68 students were given the opportunity to complete their first dissection of the course by examining the anatomical structures of the pig heart. The heart unit concluded with the introduction to reading an electrocardiogram wave. The students were then able to capture their own wave reading by utilizing Vernier probe technology (a three-lead ECG sensor).

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !69

Jacqueline Sanzari 8th Grade Science During the month of October students in the eighth grade have continued their study of Chemistry. Students first focused on phases of matter, intermolecular forces and molecular motion. As part of this lesson students experimented with food coloring and water to see how temperature and molecular motion are related. The eight graders then continued on, studying physical and chemical properties of matter. Each class completed a group experiment trying to identify mystery powders using physical and chemical properties. Recently students started their final chapter in chemistry discussing how to identify if a reaction has occurred and the law of conservation of mass. Students completed a hands-on, engineering design lab in which they designed, created and tested closed containers to trap the reaction of water and effervescent tablets showing the law of conservation of mass.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !70 Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !71

Doubravka Hausner Chemistry and Honors Chemistry In Chemistry & Honors Chemistry classes, students were exploring physical and chemical changes and different types of mixtures. All classes performed a 2 period lab and conducted a series of experiments that helped them distinguish between physical and chemical changes.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !72

Forensics In Forensics students learnt about investigating and securing the crime scenes. Students worked with a partner to design a 3D crime scene model. Some groups prefered to use a computer software Sketch up and some groups prefered to build their crime scenes. This was a fun learning project and students enjoyed the discussion part when the rest of the classroom had to figure out the crime they designed.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !73

AP Chemistry

In AP Chemistry students learnt how to read a photoelecton spectrum, write an electron configurations for various elements and defined a periodic trends. Students completed a 3 period lab Analysis of Alum and wrote a full report.

Katy Daly Chemistry ICS The students just finished their atomic theory project for the scientists that have contributed to the atomic theory. Now the students are learning about protons, neutrons and electrons that make up an atoms.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !74 Math 7 ICS The students are working on adding and subtracting rational numbers. They will then work on multiplying and dividing rational numbers.

Kristen Larsen Forensics In October, our Forensics class conducted experiments relating to deductive reasoning and observational skills. Students examined the many ways an investigator can view the crime scene. Students were enthusiastic about creating a crime scene model and beginning their unit of fingerprints. Science 7 In Science 7 this month we explored the ways in which cells can build body systems. Students analyzed the various body systems that exist and applied understanding of stimulus/response mechanisms. Students also began to look at how reproduction occurs in organisms of all types. Students will look into the details of reproduction as the marking period continues. Biotechnology In Biotechnology this month, we discussed the ways in which humans impact the environment. Students researched and presented on environmental efforts within biotechnology. As the month ended, students began to examine the role DNA plays in biotechnology. We are looking forward to building a model of DNA and exploring protein synthesis.

Jonathan Hassinger Physics and Physics Honors In Physics this month we finished covering our Chapter on Kinematics. Up next we will be discussing Dynamics in preparation for our Tennis Ball launcher activity. In Physics Honors we concluded Dynamics and Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !75 Uniform Circular Motion. Students completed their Uniform Circular Motion formal laboratory report. Up next students will be working on the impacts of Uniform Circular Motion Chemistry Students in Chemistry have finished their study of Atomic Structure and completed their projects on Atomic History. We also concluded learning about electron structure based on Schrodinger's understanding of modern electron cloud configurations. We utilized the Orbital Viewer software to view these models in 3D. Up next students will be learning about average atomic mass based on weighted average models and then a discussion of the various trends found on the periodic table. Science Department in General After our shelving arrived for our 3D printers, the printers were installed and once they are put up on the network they will be calibrated and up and running. The Science Department is simply waiting for the required networking hardware and then the first phase of the WRHS MakerSpace will be up and running.

Keri Parry Algebra Based Physics We have had 26 instructional days by this time in Physics class. Students continued with “Chapter 1” to answer the essential question: how are velocity, acceleration, and position related to each other? They also learned why anyone would want to solve for an unknown starting speed, falling time, or peak position in the real world. We applied this real world application to the curriculum’s stomp rocket lab.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !76

Math Department

Lisa Ames Geometry Students finished chapter 1 with a review and application of perimeter, circumference, and area of composite shapes. Then, they began chapter 2 by discussing inductive reasoning and determining counterexamples of various statements. Students also applied algebraic properties and geometric theorems to proofs. Students started chapter 3 by using Geogebra to discover properties of angles formed by parallel lines and transversals. In addition, students completed weekly Khan Academy lessons on topics we discussed in class as well as algebra review. Geometry Honors Students started chapter 2 by applying logic and algebraic properties to begin constructing proofs. We discussed how to write conditional and converse statements which will help students understand theorems and proofs going forward. Students worked in groups to complete Round Robin activities completing steps and reasons of various proofs. Students started chapter 3 by using Geogebra to discover properties of angles formed by parallel lines and transversals. They also applied these angle pairs to be able to prove if lines are parallel. In addition, students completed weekly Khan Academy lessons on topics we discussed in class as well as algebra review. AP Statistics We continued looking at data displays in Chapter 3 and 4 and were able to compare two sets of data using visual displays as well as summary statistics. Students used their TI Graphing calculators to analyze data displays as well as statistics to make conclusions about data distributions. We also discussed standard deviation and used it to discuss variability and begin to learn about z-scores and how to determine percents in a normal curve. Students completed MyMathLab assignments for each chapter as well as Khan Academy lessons aligned to our instruction. Statistics Students began looking at the many ways data can be displayed such as frequency distributions, pie graphs, stem and leaf plots, scatter plots, etc. Students took various data sets and analyzed the conclusions that can be determined from each type of data displays. Students continued their study of statistics by learning about the Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !77 measures of central tendency and spread. We practiced calculating variance and standard deviation for any type of data distribution including frequency and weighted distributions. Students analyzed how standard deviation can be used to learn more about a data set. To finish chapter 2, we discussed box and whisker plots, quartiles, and percentiles for a data set. Students completed questions on Khan Academy and Math XL to supplement what they learned in class.

College Math We have used Khan Academy to review systems of equations, inequalities, and ratios, proportions, and percents. Students completed an assessment on each topic and will be completing practice SAT tests since all students will be taking the SATs in November.

Marc Fazio Math Grade 7 Students worked on several topics in chapter 1 including comparing and ordering rational numbers, mathematical operations with rational numbers. Students used online programs such as Prodigy and Khan Academy. First marking period number line project was due at the end of the marking period. PARCC Remediation Students are actively working to prepare for the Accuplacer test, reviewing topics in Algebra 1 and Algebra II Math 7 Skills Students are reviewing topics to review their skills for the PARCC. Students are using online programs such as Khan Academy tailored to their individual needs.

Gabriel Ben-Nun Algebra 2 and 2H Students finished an overview of functions from basics of function notation to inverse and composition of functions. The unit covers properties and operations of functions. The unit starts out by reviewing function basics including relations, functions, function notation, domain, range, and continuity. It then has students performing operations with functions, constructing and simplifying composite functions, and being introduced to inverse functions. The unit compares features of multiple parent functions as well. All material for this class is posted on google classroom including notes, reviews and homework.

Carla Linfante Algebra I Resource Room Students finished up the first chapter that reviewed real numbers and properties of numbers. They also took their Star Test in math as a baseline to show how much they progress throughout the year. Students are currently working on applying previous skills learned (such as combining like terms and distributive property) to solving equations involving multiple steps. Looking ahead, we will be moving on to solving inequalities with one variable shortly. Algebra 2 Resource Room Students have been very busy this month. They started off the month by taking their Star Test to use as a baseline for their growth throughout the year. They finished studying series and sequences and now have moved on to reviewing functions and linear equations. Using Explore Learning, they used an interactive gizmo to see different ways relations are represented and how to determine whether a relation was a function Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !78 or not. We will continue our learning with a focus more specifically on linear functions and the different forms that are used to represent a line.

James Santangelo AP Calculus AB The students are now beginning to apply the concept of a limit to the definition of a derivative. This is the second part of the course, which will take us through at least the month of December. The students are using the definition of a derivative to find equations of tangent lines, are determining whether a derivative exists at a point, and applying rules for differentiation to differentiable functions. Technology, including the graphing calculator and Desmos, are being used as means of discovery and confirmation of results. The students are also seeing an increase in the amount of AP Exam Prep using their workbooks and other resources. Geometry After finishing the first chapter on the foundation of geometry, the students are completing a brief unit on conjectures and conditional statements. This chapter will help them understand the wording behind theorems they will encounter throughout the entire course. Students have used online tools, such as Kahoot!, to help prepare for and reinforce concepts. The students were also introduced to another online tool called Gizmos, which can be used as a means of discovery and reinforcement by completing guided activities. Algebra I Honors The students completed a unit on equation solving, as well as applications of equation solving and ratios. A project was assigned at the end of the month in which students will try to build a winning portfolio of individually selected stocks, which will be followed for about a six or seven week period. The student, or group, with the best performing portfolio will receive extra credit on the assignment. Should any student or group outperform my portfolio, they will also receive extra credit as well. The winner(s) will be announced in January. Stay tuned! Business Math After finishing a unit of study on banking and applying the basic operations of addition and subtraction to keeping a bank log, the students began a unit on applications of decimals. They looked into the application to the stock market, where decimals play a key role in every day trading. The students are also finishing up a project on keeping a three week bank log and writing checks.

Robert Berger Resource Geometry Students finished chapter 1 and then began chapter 2. They covered the topics of inductive reasoning and patterns, bi-conditionals, conditionals, algebraic reasoning, deductive reasoning, and algebraic proofs. They have had a quiz and will prepare for a test. Each week they have had a pop quiz on review concepts from foundational grade levels. Students completed weekly Khan Academy lessons for remediation and on topics we discussed in class. United States History II Students finished their chapters on the Great Depression. They covered topics of : A Nation’s sick economy, Hardship and suffering during the depression, Hoover struggles with Depression, They worked on a few class work assignments, and homework assessments reviewing these topics. They had an assessment on the Great Depression as a whole. They watched Cinderella Man, and had response questions and a eulogy Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !79 assignment for Jim Braddock. They have transitioned into recovery from the Depression during the New Deal Era.

Paulette Gareri Algebra 1 Students have spent the month of October establishing a concrete understanding of solving one, two, and multi-step equations and inequalities. Students have also been utilizing IXL.com for remediation, practice, and advanced learning. At the end of the month, students will have begun the next unit of study, Linear Equations. Students have also completed the first round of STAR testing.

Algebra 1 ICS (with Rob Berger) Students have spent the month of October establishing a concrete understanding of solving one, two, and multi-step equations and inequalities. Students have also been utilizing IXL.com for remediation, practice, and advanced learning. At the end of the month, students will have begun the next unit of study, Linear Equations. Students have also completed the first round of STAR testing. Algebra 2 Honors Students completed unit on Patterns, Sequences and Functions. Students became proficient in graphing linear and absolute value functions and inequalities both manually and with the use of their graphing calculators. Students are currently exploring quadratic models to evaluate data and make predictions. Pre-Calculus Students finished a unit of Algebra 2 review. We discussed even and odd functions and domain and range. Students then started working on a unit covering trigonometric functions, angles and measures. We learned how to convert from degrees to radians and students used the unit circle to solve trigonometric problems involving non acute angles.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !80 Debra Beck Accounting The students learned how to analyze business transactions and translate the financial data using T accounts as debits and credits. The students learned how to calculate the normal balance of an account, process temporary accounts and test for equality.

Financial Literacy The students investigated money management strategies. Students analyzed and created a budget, cash flow and balance sheet statements. They created a budget for a vacation. They learned how to make consumer decisions by using a research approach and completed a project modelling this technique. The students are participating in the H&R Budget challenges which allows the students to make real life financial decisions several times a week. Marketing Essentials The students investigated economic indicators to judge a country's economy as healthy or unhealthy and applied this to specific countries. The students analyzed how the politics of a country affects marketing. The students learned the different methods to conduct marketing, product, advertising and media research. In groups the students created a research plan for their own products. Business Law Students learned about the different classifications of crimes. They learned how distinguish a federal from state law. They investigated different federal and state lawsuits. They learned about tort law and researched product liability lawsuits.

Sean Rutherford TV Production TV Production students have started working on their music video projects. Each group of students has outlined each member’s role in the music video. Students are given the position of producer, director, camera operator, sound technician, and editor. However, each student is required to be in the music video and assist in each area of the project. Each group has produced a storyboard roughly detailing the direction of their music video. Over the course of the next two weeks the videos will be shot, edited, and presented in class. Students have also shot footage from the homecoming pep rally which is being edited and soon uploaded to Blue Devil Nation.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !81 Web 2.0 Students begin working on a few new projects including: creating and publishing a blog. The students learned what the purpose of a blog is, why they exist, and what makes effective blog posts. Students will have the opportunity to create and publish their own blogs from scratch and customize to their specific interest. Students will soon research professional blog sites and view how their material is shared and the message they deliver.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !82 Intro to Computer Science Principles The students in this class have learned about what technology is currently around them that is used in everyday life. The students learned how computers are powered, Ohms Law and basics of electricity and safety. They learned the differences between desktop computers, laptop computers, All-In-One Computers, tablets, and servers. We then moved into portable devices such as digital cameras, wearable devices (Fit Bit and Smartwatches). Students researched each of these different devices and learned their history, what company provides them and how they are used.

Robotics Students have completed the primary builds of their robots. Before transitioning into more advanced builds such as a roller coaster, motion active baseball batter, and dolphin we’re going to review a couple of companies and see how they use robots in their factories. Some companies we’re viewing are the General Pencil Factory (located for over 100 years in Jersey City), the M&M’s factory (located in Hackettstown), and the Amazon fulfillment center (located in Carteret) and the Amazon robotic repair facility (located in Robbinsville). Each of these companies have automated robots in some part of their facility.

World Language Joseph Mojkowski Spanish II • Introduction of all regular AR,ER, IR verbs and their usage • Review chapter test and oral presentation (a getting to know you skit) focusing on describing people and what they do as well as asking how people are and what they do in their free time • Vocabulary related to school and the different school rules and activities • The use of irregular and helper verbs in the context of talking about what we have to do in certain classes as well as what is prohibited as well as demonstrating comprehension via textual and listening comprehension activities

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !83 Spanish III • Review chapter test and oral presentation highlighting understanding of present tense verbs, the use of the indirect (and reflexive) pronouns, and possessive adjectives and their relation to discussing everyday school and extracurricular activities • Written, reading, and listening exercises related to the introduction of vocabulary related to outdoor and camping activities • The introduction of the preterite past tense (through all aspects of regular verbs) and its use in talking and writing about camping and outdoor experiences

Spanish IV • El Greco art project/ Students created an El Greco-esque work in the Mannerist style by elongating and twisting a figure of their choice. They then compared and contrasted it with his works focusing on the similarities of the artistic style and the difference of theme. • Study of El Greco’s most famous works La vista de Toledo and El entierro del conde de Orgaz • El Greco test; artist, style, famous works, adjective agreement • Introduction of themes and vocabulary related to second Spanish artist, Diego Velazquez • Students completed imaginary Royal Family Tree focusing on Velazquez vocabulary and use of long possessive adjectives • Study of Velazquez’s most famous work Las meninas • Comparison of use of participle in the creation of adjectives to its use in the formation of the perfect tenses

Spanish AP • Continued work related on applying all aspects covered in class to the use of accent marks to student work • Speaking and writing assignments related to the first general theme of Identity and immigrant experiences. Longer presentational exercises focused on the incorporation of different sources as supporting materials when making an argument.

Angela Daniele Spanish Spanish I

• Recited Numeros/Matematicas Poem • Learned the Days and the Months of the Year • Recited Los Dias y Los Meses Poem • Learned how to express the date • Completed a power-point presentation on a Spanish-speaking country • Learned about El Dia De Los Muertos and made “Esqueleto Masks”. Then, compared it to Halloween. • Wrote dialogs using theme vocabulary

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !84 Spanish II

• Completed review of Spanish I vocabulary and grammar • Continued working with regular and irregular present-tense verbs • Learned new words daily to enhance Spanish vocabulary and used in sentences • Wrote and presented orally “En Un Dia -- Usando Los Verbos en –ar, -er, y –er” • Learned about “Hay Que” hacer in la escuela (What to do in school) and what “Se Prohibe” en la escuela (What is not allowed in school). Posters were made and presented orally. • Learned about El Dia De Los Muertos and made “Esqueleto Masks”. Then, compared it to Halloween.

Tess Iannacco Italian The Italian I classes worked on learning vocabulary acquisition regarding school and classes. They learned to answer questions such as “che cos’e’?” “C’e’ and ci sono" and days of the week. Student watched a short film and role-played the conversations related to the topic (the first day of school). Students learned the expression “ecco” and the numbers from 0-1000. They can speak/write in one complete sentence regarding school subjects and activities in school. Italian II These classes learned the vocabulary related to shopping, Italian fashion, design and quality. They watched a short film in Italian regarding shopping, role played it and created a dialogue. They read a short excerpt on how Italians shop and answered a series of affirmations related to the reading. Italian III These classes learned vocabulary related to the house and its contents. They can distinguish the different types of housing and architecture. They can converse and give information about things they own. They can speak about their activities (rest/leisure) Regarding the structure of the language they have learned to use the future tense to speak about events/facts that will happen in the future. Italian IV & AP Italian This class learned about human interactions. How we need others to feel alive. Friends, family, life companions, work colleagues, but, also new friends. These relationships allow us to compare ourselves and to express our feelings, therefore, learning to understand ourselves on a deeper level. In a society that changes, becoming more and more multiethnic, we look into relationships we presently have or have formed with others. We have reflected on this topic by reading a short story by Salvatore Fiume, “Il Supplente” watched the short film “La Scarpa” learned about Italians in the world “Un popolo in movimento”. We also reviewed the grammatical structure of regular verbs (present tense) articles (definite/indefinite) gender and number and the present tense of irregular verbs.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !85 Music Department

Toni Baumgartner Band American Popular Music • Early Latin influences on American popular music • The Minstrel Show • Stephen Foster • Dance Music and Brass Bands ◦ John Philip Sousa • Tin Pan Alley • Ragtime ◦ Scott Joplin • The Phonograph • Technology and the Music Business • Early Blues Artists

Life Skills • Visit from Mrs. Paniagua - HIB education • Respect ◦ Harriet Beecher Stowe • Self-respect • Respect for others • Positive speech ◦ Booker T. Washington ◦ Benito Juarez • Goal Setting

Middle School Band Class • New notes, new rhythms, blending • Keeping a steady beat • Warm ups • Getting the instruments from the locked closet and setting them up • Group work on music theory packet • Small group lessons ◦ Flutes, bells, bass ◦ Clarinets, saxophones ◦ Trumpets ◦ Percussion

Holiday Concert (12/20/17) Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !86 List of songs 1. Cousin Louie 2. Jingle Bells 3. Good King Wenceslas 4. Jolly Old St. Nick

High School Band Class • Notes, rhythms, blending, intonation • Warm ups • What I am listening to assignment - student presentations • Concert band songs for holiday concert

Holiday Concert (12/20/17) List of songs 1. Chanukah Celebration 2. Christmas in the Kitchen 3. Anasazi 4. Cousin Louie 5. Hallelujah Chorus 6. Duetto #144

Melissa Manolakakis Choir During the first two weeks of October students learned to recognize and sing pitches using solfege. (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do). They also learned about their resonators and articulators. In addition we continued

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !87 to work on building relationships and confidence while singing popular songs in unison and playing icebreakers. The third week we concentrated on reading basic music notation and continued to generate strong relationships with students. The fourth week we continued to identify correct pitches, sing in unison, run through warm-ups and assess and assign students their voice parts: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. All the classes: , 1. Grades 7th – 8th comprised of 80 students and 2. Grades 9th - 12th comprised of 100. Students in Glee Club will perform with the choir and as an individual group. The songs we are singing in HS Choir are: “The Star Spangled Banner”, “Alma Mater”, “God Bless America”, “Amazing Grace”, “All I want for Christmas is You”, “Swingin Jingle Bells”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Deo Dicamus Gratitas”, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. The songs we are singing in MS Choir are: “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, “Bidi Bom”, “Carol of the Bells” and “Christmas in About Three Minutes”.

Musical Theory This class has learned to name all the notes on the piano and the Bass/Treble Clef Staves. They will sing in the Holiday Concert as their final assessment to demonstrate their knowledge of reading music.. Everyday we warm-up and complete sighting reading rhythm exercises and sight singing exercises. They are introduced to basic music theory concepts on a daily basis and for the 2nd half of class they break into sectionals and work on their individual melodies for each song. They are working on the songs in HS Choir.

Music, Art and Film - For this month we watched “A League of Their Own” and “City Lights - Charlie Chaplin. In “A League of Their Own” we learn about Women in Baseball during WW2 and began the Comedy genre watching “City Lights”. Importance of the sport in the film - could the story work in another setting?; Characters who seek redemption; and the Effect on the audience of music and art within the films. At the end of each film students completed a series of questions and wrote a film review. City lights was a silent film made in 1931.

In addition to our classes, we had our 1st Musical Theater workshop on Friday, October 6, 2017. It was successful to have the whole sections sing as one through all their concert songs. Please visit this link for video and pictures from the day. https://photos.app.goo.gl/46cTkR9ZhWvr27xG3

Glee Club attended Montclair State University Choral Festival, Friday, October 27, 2017. Pictures will be included next month. Attached to this report is the program.

Rachel Mifsud Art

Studio Art Students in this higher-level class spent more time on the scratch art (project #1). Their skillset is apparently more advanced so they were able to create compositions with more precision and carefully crafted pattern designs.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !88

Long term drawing assignments (homework):

1. Due December 22nd:

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !89

1. Due January 19-22:

Studio Art Project 2: Cubism - mixed media landscape collage SWBAT create an observational drawing of a landscape then alter it in the cubist style using mixed media. Below is a photo that a student took which she will use as her reference for project 2:

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !90

Art Concepts 7, Art Exploration 8, and Introduction to Art For the month of October, learning about the surrealist movement and creating landscapes turned sculptures using mixed media was appropriate because the theme was to explore the subconscious mind and work imaginatively. This project allows students to merge creating logical aspects of a landscape with imaginative and fantastical dream-like imagery. This lesson involves discussing the period’s most influential artists, view images of their works and create a discussion around subject matter, compositions, color schemes, etc. Questions asked: How do these artists arrange their compositions? How do theses artists utilize objects that already exist and place them into unique and imaginative settings? What do these artists do stylistically to balance aspects of realism and fantasy?

Objective: Determine how pre-conceived notions about how something should look influences the way we perceive it. SWBAT turn a diorama into a 2 and 3D landscape in which dream-like objects exist in a surreal reality. Essential question: How do artists see differently?

Below are images of the “Exquisite corpse” sketchbook warm-up activity. The purpose of playing this game was to get in the mindset of creating art like the surrealist artists did. Students created figurative creatures by passing around sketchbooks and contributing to a section of the body then folding their section of the paper back to hide their design before passing it to the next person. The end product was a collaborative effort.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !91 Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !92 Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !93

Graphic Design Students have finished project 1, participated in a group critique where we as a class discussed each student’s final draft of their logos giving constructive criticism. Leading into project 2, students will use their logos as a branding starting point to begin producing prototypes in Adobe Illustrator for what the packaging design and measurements will look like.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !94

Art Club

Art club has been focusing on the peace poster contest as the main project where members are adding their own design contributions. There are also media stations set up on about 3-4 tables so members may choose which project to work on for the day and may choose whether to continue working on an old project or start something new. On 10/24 the stations set up around the room for students to work at consisted of: Table 1) paper sculpture; table 2) peace poster; table 3) stark raving paper art; table 4) record painting and box of surprise experimental sample materials supplies such as monoprinting, watercolor, fine-tip colored markers and china crayons.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !95

Alyssa Bullaro Culinary Arts I & II International Cuisine 21st Century Life Skills

Culinary Arts I During the month of October, students finished studying the kitchen basics including terminology, abbreviations and equivalents. Students were then tested on their knowledge of kitchen basics, focused specifically on measurements, abbreviations, equivalents, tools, terminology and knives. Following the test, we began studying grains. Topics included yeast breads, quick breads and various grains. Students prepared pizza, fried rice and macaroni & cheese. International Cuisine During the month of October, students continued studying The British Isles. The countries of England and Ireland were the primary focus. Students prepared various dishes, originating in The British Isles, including Pikelets for Wales, Bangers & Mash and Cornish Pasties for England, and Irish Soda Bread and Boxty for Ireland. Students were tested on The British Isles and then the class began studying Eastern Europe. Thus far, we have covered Poland, in which the students prepared pierogies and nalesniki. 21st Century Life Skills During the month of October, students continued studying college and career options. Resumes, cover letters, personal statements, college essays, FAFSA, paying for college, collegeboard.com and college websites were all covered. Afterward, students were assigned a career project, in which they had to select and research different careers, colleges, scholarships, tuition costs and admission requirements. The class then moved on to study money management, specifically focused on banking terms, account options and services, as well as how to write checks.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !96

Eileen Layman The Wood-Ridge Jr/Sr High School Media Center is an active, participating member in the Bergen County Educational Library Systems. (BELS). Students have the ability to borrow books from any of the participating school libraries.

Circulation Books: 26 Borrowed: 1 book; 3 DVDs Students have been using the Media Center before and after school and between class periods. At this time, the Media Center is open during one lunch period - 4C on a D day schedule.

Media Skills Class - Grade 7

Databases - CultureGrams and Cavendish Square Digital Students in Mrs. Layman’s Media Skills class have been using the subscription database, CultureGrams, to research countries across the globe. The cultural norms of many countries have created a new awareness among the students. Clothing, music, dating and food were the cultural highlights. Students used the SmartBoard for interactive facts: currency converter, travel distances, recipes and national anthems.

Students will also be using the history, science and writers modules in the Cavendish Square Digital database. Cavendish offers historical paintings, maps, photographs, video and audio clips. Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !97

The novel, A long walk to water, is concluding in the 7th grade Media Skills class. The students talked about Nikki Haley’s trip to the Sudan and the Ethiopian refugee camp that she visited. The United Nations Ambassador’s recent trip paralleled the book, A long walk to water, which takes place in Southern Sudan in 1985. Career, Exploration and Readiness Class - Grade 8

MakerSpace in the Media Center

Through the BELS school library consortium, Mrs. Layman borrowed MakerSpace kits for students to take part in STEM/STEAM related activities. As part of the Careers class, students have been learning about snap circuitry and coding through the use of 4 colors.

Ozobots, are small robots that blend the physical and digital world and teach students about programming; Ozobots help students learn about simple code language and deductive reasoning.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !98

Programming a bowling game and a simple map with Ozobots.

Students have been researching careers in the STEM/STEAM fields. The Snap Circuit kits have aided students in understanding the flow of electricity and how conductors, resistors and switches act within the circuit.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !99 Student teams raced against each other to see who could sound a police siren, spin a fan, set off a salt water alarm, flash lights and tune a radio station. Teams scored points for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes.

Mrs. Layman’s 8th grade student is playing Mario through the Makey Makey circuit board. Makey Makey turns everyday objects(coins) into touchpads. World Language

Mrs. Daniele’s Spanish classes have been finishing their country projects in the Media Center, complete with Google slide presentations.

Music The Media Center has been collaborating with the Music department to borrow movies from the area libraries. The movies have specific themes and music which the class is researching.

Laura Paniagua - Assemblies

On October 2, 2017 Michael DeLeon from Steered Straight came and presented to the 7-12th grade classes about the real-life consequences of the use of drugs and alcohol. Michael as well as one of his co-workers presented their own struggles with drugs and alcohol and how negatively those choices affected their lives. Michael and Tasha came back in the evening to host a parent assembly to discuss the new and upcoming drug and alcohol trends as well as discussing different ways of opening up the lines of communication between parents and their children.

October 23, 2017 – Timothy Shoemaker, a Ramsey Police Detective, presented his “A Good Life” to the 7-12th graders which speaks about the power we have on our own lives and how no matter what obstacles we are given, we can always exceed if we believe that we can and never give up that we can be a “somebody”.

Timothy came back in the evening and hosted a parent assembly on how people are hiding drugs and alcohol and what to look for if they suspect their child(ren) may be experimenting or using drugs and/or alcohol. Timothy used PowerPoint slides, video demonstration, and over 50 examples of items that are created and

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !100 sold with the specific purpose of hiding drugs and alcohol. The parents were able to physically handle the materials as well.

Athletics October 2017

Brittany Zielinski Fall Cheerleading The cheerleaders have had a very eventful month cheering on the blue devils and preparing for homecoming festivities. The team participated in yet another successful pep rally and demonstrated their school spirit pepping up the fans and cheering on the football team. The cheerleaders represented past cheerleading teams by wearing “throwback” uniforms, some from 15 years ago! Our cheerleaders are looking forward to cheering on the football team to victory throughout the remainder of the season!

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Charlie Trentacosti

Football

This has been an up and down month, we’ve had one of the biggest wins for our team in recent memory in beating Becton and then we loss to 2 teams we should have beaten. We have a good team and good group of young men that work hard each and every day and at this time with all that these young people have gone through with 2 wins we should make the playoffs for the first time in many years. This month we had our home coming pep rally and acknowledged our seniors and fans. And the best part of the whole month was the support of the town and school. Fans follow and cheer, and bring an energy to the team we’d like to thank them. I’ve put in a little football reminder as to what football is. The next time we write I hope to have a great end to the season with making the playoffs.

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Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !103

Thank you,

Coach T Charlie Trentacosti Let’s Go Blue Devils

Andrea Marino Volleyball The Varsity team has been having a fantastic run. We are currently 21-5, and have won the NJIC Meadowlands division for as second straight year. We entered the NJIC tournament this season and were the

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !104 number 1 seed. Unfortunately, the girls lost a hard fought match against the number 2 seed, Elmwood Park. (29-31, 22-25) It was an amazing match and the girls left their hearts on the court. We will now enter the State Tournament, with the number 9 seed. We will play our first round game at home on Oct. 31st. Senior Day is Oct. 26th and we will be celebrating 6 wonderful young ladies and athletes. They all have worked so hard throughout their 4 years and we can’t wait to celebrate with them. Our JV and Freshman teams have been also doing amazingly well. We will wrap of their seasons on Oct. 26th.

Jerry Cala Girls Soccer The following is a summary for the WRHS Girls Varsity Program. This is a continuation from my previous report. This report includes information from September 27th through October 24th. I have attached a team photo as well.

Regular Season - Practices still take place after school, ranging from 90-120 minutes. On days of games, that start @400 pm, the girls are provided mini-bagels as a snack. Throughout the season, many families have been hosting team dinners the night before games. These dinners have been very well attended. The 3 senior captains (Amy Camacho, Carly Cook, and Melanie Izurieta) have done a great job with mentoring the younger players. Listed below is a brief summary of our matches. I feel that it is worth mentioning that for every game, except one, we started 6 ninth graders and 2 tenth graders. Our attack is led by 4 freshmen and our goalkeeper is a 10th grader. Also, Shaye Whaley, 10th grade, has emerged as a top defensive player. Her work ethic and spirit are exceptional.

October 3rd - @Weehawken. We won this match 7-0, firing off 20 shots on goal. We defended very well and applied constant pressure to our opponent. 6 goals were scored by 9th and 10 graders.

October 6th - @Garfield. This was the first round of the NJIC Tournament. We won this match 6-1, firing off 10 shots on goal. Again, 5 goals were scored by 9th and 10th graders. This was a good tournament win for a young team!

October 7th - @ Cedar Grove. This was our third win in a row. The biggest of the season. Our opponent is having a very good season. We were able to defend for 80 minutes and really pressured them for most of the second half. This resulted in a 1-0 victory. The goal was scored by a 9th grader. This was a huge victory for our young program which resulted in us getting 33 power points.

October 9th - vs. Saddle Brook. This was a back and forth affair for 80 minutes. In the end, Saddle Brook won 4-3. All 3 goals were scored by 9th graders. We showed much improvement from our earlier meeting in which we lost 8-1.

October 11th - @Hasbrouck Heights. Total heartbreak. This match went into two sudden death overtime periods. Heights scored with about 37 seconds left in the second overtime period. The final score was 3-2. Again, both goals were scored by 9th graders.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !105 October 13th - vs North Arlington. This was a game of two halves. NA led 2-1 at the half. In the first half, we had several opportunities go unfinished. This coupled with many defensive breakdowns, resulted in a 4-1 victory for NA.

October 14th - The morning started with our Applebee's Pancake Fundraiser. This was a two hour affair. The girls helped serve and clean up. The program did very well with this fundraiser. After this, we then played @Hasbrouck Heights in the second round of the NJIC Tournament. Heights won 5-1. We did not play well in all areas of the game. October 17th - @Becton/Wallington. We were totally dominated by a very technical opponent. The final was 6-0.

October 19th - @Paterson Charter. We won this match 5-0, firing off 14 shots on goal. Again, 4 goals were scored by 9th graders. We moved the ball very well as a team!

October 20th - vs. Immaculate Conception. We showed good character in this match. We gave them a game for 60 minutes, in which it was a 1-0 affair. In the end, we lost 3-1. We really played hard!

October 23rd - vs. Butler. We were completed dominated in the second half, resulting in a 5-0 defeat. Butler was very experienced and very skilled.

October 24th - Due to inclement weather, we moved practice inside to have a film session. The girls got to look at the game from a tactical perspective. I feel that this was a very rewarding experience for them. Again, another example of how I am trying to make our program truly varsity caliber!

On October 26th, we will have a JV game @Becton. This is the second JV game in program history!!

We are seeded 12th in our group for the state playoffs and have to play @Midland Park. Also, we have 2 regular season matches remaining. On October 27th, we will host Senior Day vs. Weehawken.

Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !106

Alberico De Pierro Boys Soccer 2017 was obviously a rebuilding year for us as we were extremely young. First and foremost, for the 5th year in a row, meaning every year of our existence, the program grew. We went from 27 players last year to 38 in 2017. As for on the field, the JV team recorded its most wins ever since the program became a varsity program, including another qualification to the JV County Tournament. The Varsity squad had a much improved October and was able to make it to the quarterfinals of the NJIC Tournament in our first year entering same. Varsity also saw several freshmen and first year players play significant minutes in big games which is a bright spot for the future as we will be returning approximately nine starters next year. Furthermore, Brian Argueta tied the school record for career shutouts, as well as Daniel Cygan becoming only the third player to join the 50 club (that is, play in a varsity game 50 times.

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Superintendent’s Monthly Report October, 2017 !108

Class of 1967 Reunion – 10/27

College Fair – 10/18

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